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As New Orleans Pelicans rookie Derik Queen wants redemption after what he considered to be a down performance, one who thought relatively the same was NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor. With Queen selected by the Pelicans in the 2025 NBA Draft with the 13th overall pick, his Summer League debut on Friday in the 98-91 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves was when that brought many red flags to O'Connor.
He would speak on his self-titled podcast about the outing as Queen scored 13 points on five of nine shooting from the field to go along with 10 rebounds and seven turnovers. O'Connor would say that Queen “looked really overwhelmed,” and even mention how he “looked lazy not getting back on defense.”
“I thought Derik Queen looked really overwhelmed,” O'Connor said. “He looked slow-footed, he looked lazy not getting back on defense. He had seven turnovers in the game. For a guy that the Pelicans traded up for ten spots to go get by giving up an unprotected 2026 first-round pick from themselves. I mean it’s just game one and he’s just going to be a rookie.”
“You’re not going to overreact, but I didn’t like what I saw from Derik Queen in that game from a body language perspective,” O'Connor continued. “He came into the NBA Draft Combine in May out of shape. There’s a lot of red flags here with Queen, and I have my concerns. And out of all the guys that interviewed back in May, I thought he was the least mature mentally as well.”
Pelicans' Derik Queen looking for “redemption”
Talking about how the Pelicans traded up significantly to get Queen, O'Connor would not be a fan of the effort shown in his Summer League debut. However, Queen feels relatively the same way, saying he is searching for “redemption” coming off the performance, according to NOLA.com.
“Just looking for redemption. I've got to redeem myself. I know I've got 82 games. But I know Twitter and probably Instagram are going crazy right now. I've just got to redeem myself for me and (to quiet) all the outside noise.”
Still, Queen has immense talent that could potentially be a building block for New Orleans in the near future, but there's no denying that the coaching staff and the rookie himself want to see a better outing.
“I feel like I have this game under my belt, and I feel like I’m going to be great next game,” Queen said. “… It was kinda sloppy in the first half. But a double-double is a double-double. I think I flipped the switch in the second half. I feel like I got the hang of it now.”
At any rate, Queen looks to redeem himself in the Pelicans' next Summer League game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
