The New Orleans Pelicans have been the worst team in the NBA in this 2025-26 season, but rookie Derik Queen continues to offer reasons to be optimistic about the future. The Pelicans dropped to 3-22 following a 135-132 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at Smoothie King Center on Monday, but Queen was the biggest talking point from the game.
Queen recorded the first triple-double of his career in the loss, finishing with 33 points (11-15 FG), 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and four blocks. The 20-year-old is just the fifth rookie in the last 30 years to record a 30-point triple-double, after Blake Griffin, Stephen Curry, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves.
Additionally, Queen is the fifth player in NBA history to post a 30-point triple-double before their 21st birthday. Doncic, LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, and De’Aaron Fox are the others to accomplish the feat.
Queen sure is in good company. He’s now averaging 12.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game as a rookie.
The Pelicans, of course, were heavily criticized for making the trade that brought him to New Orleans. They sent the 23rd pick of the 2025 NBA Draft and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for the 13th pick, Queen.
Now, that unprotected selection is the better of the Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks‘ pick in 2026. Just one of the two teams needed to be terrible for the Hawks to hit the jackpot, and that was likely to happen as well.
The Pelicans were expected to struggle, and struggle they indeed have. Their 3-22 record is the worst in the NBA, which means the 14-11 Hawks currently have the joint-best odds for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
This 2026 draft class is seen as featuring three potential franchise players in AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer. The Pelicans could have been the ones getting their hands on one of them, but it’ll be the Hawks who potentially get that opportunity.
The only way we don’t look back at this trade as a complete disaster for the Pelicans is if Queen blossoms into a superstar. He has shown flashes of greatness so far and managed to impress Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, whom he has modeled his game after, when they faced off on Nov. 19.
“He’s good,” Jokic said, via Vic Lombardi. “He has some moves, he’s definitely crafty. He’s unorthodox, great touch around the rim, feel for the game. It’s good to see somebody different.”
Queen had 30 points against the Nuggets that night, and Jokic said the youngster does remind him a little bit of himself. If he ends up being anywhere near as good as the Serb, then the Pelicans would perhaps be owed an apology for all that criticism.
We’ll see Queen in action next when the Pelicans take on the Portland Trail Blazers at Smoothie King Center on Thursday at 8 PM ET.
