Derik Queen lands in New Orleans during 2025 NBA Draft

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 25
2 min read

After one season in College Park, former Maryland men’s basketball star freshman Derik Queen is set to begin his NBA career with the New Orleans Pelicans after being selected with the 13th overall pick in Wednesday’s 2025 NBA Draft.

He joins Zion Williamson on a Pelicans team one day removed from acquiring Jordan Poole in exchange for CJ McCollum as New Orleans looks to turn the page from their 21-win season in 2024-25. Queen was initially drafted by the Atlanta Hawks before being traded to New Orleans.

Queen now becomes the program’s first draft pick since Aaron Wiggins went 55th overall in 2021 and the first first-round selection since Jalen Smith went tenth overall in 2020.He also becomes at least the fifth Terp in the NBA alongside Aaron Wiggins, Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith and Jahmir Young while Alex Len closed out the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Queen, a former five-star out of Baltimore, dazzled at St. Frances (MD) and spent one season playing alongside former Maryland big Julian Reese before transferring to Montverde Academy (FL) alongside two other first round picks in Cooper Flagg, Asa Newell and Liam McNeeley.

During his lone season in College Park, Queen anchored the ‘Crab Five’ alongside Reese, Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Selton Miguel and Rodney Rice as the freshman led the team in both scoring (16.5) and rebounds (9) while setting the program freshman scoring record with 594 points. Queen’s 323 rebounds in 2024-25 also rank tied with Buck Williams for the most in program history among freshmen, while his 12 20-point games mark the second-most by a freshman behind only Joe Smith (15). He became the first player since Michael Beasley in 2007 to post a 20-20 game in his freshman debut after recording 22 points, 20 rebounds vs. Manhattan in the opener. Meanwhile, Queen’s 26 points at Purdue and 25 points at Illinois both rank inside the top five among Terp freshmen in road games. Queen’s 29 points, 15 rebounds and five assists vs. Rutgers was also the first 25-15-5 performance by a freshman since 2002.

Queen ended the regular season named to the NABC All-District First Team and All-Big Ten First Team while becoming the program’s first Big Ten Freshman of the Year winner. His 31 points in the Big Ten Tournament loss vs. Michigan marked the most by a freshman in a Big Ten Tournament game since 2008.

After rising to national stardom following his buzzer-beating game-winning shot to lift Maryland into the Sweet 16 over Colorado State, Queen closed out his career at Maryland with 27 points in the season ending NCAA Tournament loss vs. Florida, marking the most since Jake Layman finished with 27 vs. SDSU in 2016.

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