{"id":578373,"date":"2026-02-02T23:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/578373\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:58:20","slug":"how-derik-queen-is-driven-by-two-nba-all-star-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/578373\/","title":{"rendered":"How Derik Queen is driven by two NBA All-Star moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

An invitation to NBA All-Star Weekend is the culmination of a lifelong dream for anyone in basketball. It’s a chance to both meet legends and leave a mark. For New Orleans Pelicans cornerstone Derik Queen<\/a>, participating in the Rising Stars game is merely the first step in a journey fueled by two distinct All-Star moments. There is one iconic, controversial memory from his childhood, and a personal, competitive mission that should worry Jeremiah Fears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Initially, Queen was humble when talking about the honor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo compete and be part of All-Star weekend has always been a dream of mine,\u201d began Queen. \u201cBeing part of All-Star whatever, three-point, just being there should be fun\u2026I’m just excited to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then one childhood moment sparked the competitive fire right back up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Slam Dunk Contest,\u201d Queen smiled, \u201cwith Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine.\u201d<\/p>\n

That iconic 2016 showdown between Gordon and LaVine is widely regarded as one of the greatest dunk contests in NBA history. Fast-forward to the present, and Queen’s drive shifts to a more immediate, personal challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to try and guard (Jeremiah Fears) and hopefully he tries to guard me,\u201d Queen stated. \u201cI’m going to try and fry him.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no denying Queen’s Rookie of the Year level confidence. This trip to LA is not just about participating; it’s about dominating the moment and turning heads in a game that often serves as a launchpad for future stars.\u00a0Things should work out once both rookies are back in New Orleans though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like that means we’ve got a good foundation right now,\u201d Queen boasted. \u201cWe are just going to keep building, going to keep getting better, and we’re going to make the actual (NBA All-Star) game next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Pelicans, that confidence aligns with the organizational bet they made on the Maryland alum’s development curve. For Queen, the All-Star weekend serves as both a mirror and a measuring stick. It’s also a reminder of the moments that inspired the 21-year-old and a preview of the level he expects to reach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An invitation to NBA All-Star Weekend is the culmination of a lifelong dream for anyone in basketball. It’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,803,1285,983,6,7218,1286,478,470,4073,4072,675,2144],"class_list":{"0":"post-578373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-derik-queen","10":"tag-editorials","11":"tag-jeremiah-fears","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-all-star-game","14":"tag-nba-editorials","15":"tag-new-orleans","16":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","17":"tag-neworleans","18":"tag-neworleanspelicans","19":"tag-pelicans","20":"tag-reporting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}