Pelicans' wild Derik Queen draft trade decision is taking an unexpected turn

The New Orleans Pelicans made a trade during the 2025 NBA Draft that was widely dissed.

They traded the No. 23 overall pick and a 2026 unprotected first-rounder for the No. 13 overall pick, which they used to take Derik Queen.

Given the prowess of the 2026 draft class, it was viewed as a shocker that the Pelicans would give up an unprotected first (best of either New Orleans or Milwaukee) to move up 10 spots and take Queen, a player viewed as a potential 'tweener with questionable shooting ability.

There's a long way to go, but Queen just fired his first shot at making it look not as bad as it could.

On Tuesday night, Queen took over in the fourth quarter for the Pelicans against the Hornets. He had 12 points and four assists just in the final stanza.

The craziest timeline would be New Orleans trading away an unprotected first in a loaded draft class for Derik Queen and it ending up as the CORRECT decision pic.twitter.com/a5Me0BFn0I https://t.co/Hks7D1UhHA

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) November 5, 2025

The by far biggest problem right now is that the Pelicans are 1-6, bottom in the Western Conference. If their pick ends up having the best lottery odds, and winds up in the top three, the Hawks will be happy to have made that trade and wound up with a potential superstar.

But to feel even slightly OK about the deal, the Pelicans will need Queen to prove himself to have legitimate star potential.

And Tuesday night's fourth quarter was just one quarter, yes, and against the Hornets, at that. Queen looked like a star, though. And that's something.

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