The Fantasy Basketball Encyclopedia

Player Dossier · New Orleans Pelicans

Derik Queen

Derik Queen's rare center assists, rebounding and defensive events create mid-round upside, but defense and Zion fit may keep him in a high-minute reserve role.

Snapshot

2026-27 projection

GP MPG FG% FT% 3PM PTS REB AST STL BLK TO
80 28 .480 .790 0.4 13.3 7.9 4.0 1.1 0.9 2.3

Correction 2026-07-18 Raised from 78 GP x 27 MPG. Part of the team board's rebalance to a valid season-minutes total, plus a defensive-rebound bump (7.4 to 7.9) on Mosley's Orlando record of top-five defensive rebounding in three straight seasons and never below seventh. His 27 healthy-night minutes are unchanged in both team models. Source: Sports Illustrated on Mosley.

Fantasy translation

Role, floor and ceiling

Queen can lead the second unit, close games and still finish second on the traditional depth chart. Floor: 23 minutes because Mosley favors Yves Missi's rim protection and Karlo Matković's spacing. Ceiling: 31 minutes, 15/9/5 with two combined steals/blocks if his defense improves or Zion Williamson misses time.

The fit warning is measurable: Zion–Queen lineups reportedly allowed 122.8 points per 100 possessions and sat in the 12th percentile. That is why the base model uses only three shared PF minutes while keeping Queen at 27 overall. CBS Sports, 2026-05-18

Injury and transaction monitor

Queen tore the scapholunate ligament in his left wrist in July 2025 and underwent surgery, but still played 81 regular-season games. The wrist is historical rather than a current restriction unless camp reports say otherwise. Pelicans injury announcement, 2025-07-18

Research shelf

Career record

Pre-NBA: Maryland (2024-25), one season as a freshman. He started all 36 games and averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 30.4 minutes on .526 from the field, .200 from three, and .766 at the line. He was Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the coaches, set the Maryland freshman scoring record with 594 points, tied for third in the conference in rebounding, and recorded 15 double-doubles. He hit a buzzer-beating fadeaway to beat Colorado State in the NCAA tournament second round and carried Maryland to the Sweet 16. Draft: 2025, first round, 13th overall, Atlanta Hawks — traded on draft night to New Orleans for the rights to the 23rd pick (Asa Newell) and an unprotected 2026 first, which conveyed as the No. 8 selection. Born December 27, 2004, he was 20 for most of his rookie year.

Season Age Team GP MPG PTS REB AST STL BLK 3PM FG% FT% TO
2025-26 21 NOP 81 25.0 11.7 7.1 3.7 1.0 0.9 0.3 .473 .795 2.3
Career 81 25.0 11.7 7.1 3.7 1.0 0.9 0.3 .473 .795 2.3

One NBA season, so the career row is the rookie row. He made All-Rookie Second Team, started 48 games, and on December 8, 2025 became the first rookie center in league history with a 30-point triple-double.

Fantasy history: 2025-26 was his only season and a verified season-end 9-cat rank is not available from the sources reachable for this entry, so none is asserted. The shape is already clear and it is unusual. Three assists per game from a center is a genuinely scarce commodity, and pairing it with a full steal and near-full block makes him a four-category contributor from a position that normally supplies two. What holds the rank down is the efficiency and the cost side: .473 from the floor is below average for a big who takes most of his shots inside the arc, the three-point column is effectively empty at 0.3 makes, and 2.3 turnovers in only 25 minutes is a real category leak — 3.3 per 36, which is guard-level volume from a player with a big's usage. The free-throw percentage at .795 is a genuine asset and separates him from most centers. In points formats the profile grades slightly better than in categories, because the triple-double routes and rebounding volume are rewarded there while the turnovers cost less relative to their 9-cat weight.

Durability: GP by season: 81. He tore the scapholunate ligament in his left wrist in July 2025 and had surgery that cost him the entire 2025 Summer League and roughly three months of offseason development, yet he was available for opening night and missed only one game across the full season. That is the single most useful fact in his file: a rookie big who absorbed 81 games of NBA contact at 20 years old, immediately after wrist surgery, has no availability flag attached to him. The wrist should be treated as historical unless camp reporting says otherwise, and there is no soft-tissue or lower-body history to discount.

Trajectory: With one season there is no arc to read, so the useful exercise is separating what is already real from what has to develop. Real: the passing, which at 5.3 assists per 36 is top-tier among centers and was not a Maryland skill — he averaged only 1.9 assists in college, so this is a genuine NBA-level expansion rather than a carried-over trait, and it is the strongest single indicator that the offensive feel is legitimate. Also real: rebounding at 10.2 per 36 and the 1.9 combined stocks. Not yet real: the shot. He shot .200 from three on low volume at Maryland and made 0.3 per game as a rookie, and until that changes, every lineup that pairs him with Zion Williamson is spacing-starved — which is precisely what the reported 122.8 defensive rating for that pairing reflects, and why his minutes ceiling is a roster problem rather than a performance one. The turnover rate should improve with reps; young high-usage bigs almost always shed a turnover per 36 between years one and three. He enters his age-22 season, which means the aging curve is irrelevant and everything here is development slope. The reasonable 2026-27 expectation is more minutes than the 25.0 he got, similar rates with modest efficiency gain, and a rank that improves for volume reasons rather than because anything about the profile changed.

Career sources: StatMuse — Derik Queen season stats · Wikipedia — Derik Queen · NBA.com — Pelicans acquire No. 13 pick · Maryland Athletics — player profile

Open questions