New Orleans Pelicans rookie Derik Queen has been on a hot streak over the past 21 games. Derik Queen is averaging 14.4 points, shooting 50.2% from the field on 11 attempts per game.
Derik Queen’s Driving Profile Puts Him in Elite Company
Although Derik Queen has put up some superb offensive numbers as a rookie, New Orleans is making it impossible for him to be a franchise player. Before entering the league, Derik Queen was known as a player who excelled at creating his own shot by driving towards the basket.
According to The Swish Theory, Derik Queen drove to the basket on 26% of his offensive possessions at the University of Maryland. Derik Queen’s drive percentage put him in the same class as Julius Randle and Paolo Banchero.
“Per Synergy, he logged a 26.8% drive rate and scored 0.98 points per possession on 158 driving possessions. He scored efficiently, drew a ton of fouls, and rarely turned the ball over despite handling at a massive volume, resulting in an all-time-great driving profile. For reference, Julius Randle and Paolo Banchero are really the only comparable 6’9”+ drivers in the Synergy era. Randle posted a 24.5% drive rate on 0.89 points per possession, and though Paolo posted a 29.0% drive rate, he scored just 0.78 points per possession.
Derik Queen’s desire to drive helped him excel around the basket. According to Hoop Intellect, at the University of Maryland, Derik Queen averaged six points at the rim, shooting 67.1% on 6.5 attempts per game.
Another skill set that Derik Queen demonstrated during his time at the University of Maryland was his ability to pass the basketball. According to Utah Jazz writer for nba.com, Eric Spyropoulos, Derik Queen excels at passing the ball in multiple offensive sets.
Another key aspect of Derik Queen’s game when he has the ball is his passing. As a result of how he was deployed at Maryland, the stats don’t properly reflect his ability to distribute the rock, with an average of 1.9 assists per game and a 11.6 assist percentage.
However, Derik Queen routinely flashed his ability to create for others in a plethora of situations. The 20-year-old big man should thrive as a short roll passer out of the pick-and-roll and be comfortable handling the ball in dribble hand-off situations, a staple of offenses such as the Denver Nuggets’, with Jokić leading the charge.
New Orleans has put Derik Queen in a position to display the skills. He has spent 35.6% of his offensive possessions this season in isolation or transition, averaging 2.4 possessions per game in each play type. Derik Queen will either bring the ball up the court or get it at the top of the key.
Once he has the ball, Derik Queen holds it for a couple of seconds to assess what’s happening around him. On December 18th, 2025, he was standing near the right elbow with four minutes left in overtime versus the Houston Rockets.
Derik Queen received a pass from Jose Alvarado and held the ball for a couple of seconds. He was hoping to pass the ball to Saddiq Bey, who was cutting to the basket from the left elbow. Unfortunately, Bey was covered by the time he got underneath a basket, forcing Derik Queen to keep the ball.
Queen proceeded to take a couple of steps towards the free-throw line to initiate a dribble handoff with Herb Jones. Herb received the handoff and ended the play with a mid-range jumper.
The Pelicans’ Spacing Is Already Below Average
Although Derik Queen recorded an assist, that possession showed why he cannot be a franchise player in New Orleans. The Pelicans are currently a below-average shooting team. Over the first 28 games, New Orleans is 23rd in three-point percentage, converting 34.6% of their attempts on 31.7 per game.
Furthermore, the best three-point shooters on the roster are Jones and Trey Murphy. Both players have career three-point percentages of above 36% on a minimum of three attempts per game.
Unfortunately, New Orleans is reportedly open to trading both these players. On December 4, Jake Fisher stated that the team was willing to listen to trade offers about both players.
And there are definitely teams that have told me as recently as today that New Orleans is now starting to listen and at least show some willingness to listen on Herb Jones and Trey Murphy as well.
If New Orleans traded both players, the team wouldn’t have an above-average shooter on the roster. Consequently, opposing teams would put more bodies inside the art to clog the pink. The hypothetical defensive strategy would affect Derik Queen in multiple ways. He would have less room to drive towards the basket, forcing him into one of three bad decisions.
1. Continue to drive towards the basket and take a contested shot. Over his first 28 games, he is shooting 54.5% when a defender is within 4 feet of him on 6.6 attempts per game.
2. Unfortunately, Queen struggles to shoot outside of the restricted area. He shot 30% on pull-up jumpers at the University of Maryland in 39 total attempts. Queen was significantly worse from behind the arc, converting 20 percent of his attempts on one attempt per game.
He has continued to struggle outside of a restricted area as a professional. Over his first 28 games, he is shooting 33.3% on 4.8 attempts per game. As a result, opponents would encourage him to take those shots, since they are low-percentage shots for him.
3. he can pass it to the perimeter to allow one of his teammates to take a low percentage three-pointer.
Consequently, New Orleans needs to surround Derik Queen with three-point shooting immediately to maximize his impact on the team and individually.
However, New Orleans’ openness to trade Jones and Murphy signals that they are in draft-pick-collection mode rather than assembling the best team around Derik Queen.
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