The NBA Draft is coming up in a little less than a month, and one of the most intriguing players in the draft is Maryland basketball center Derik Queen. Queen needed just one year with the Terrapins to polish himself into an elite NBA Draft prospect, and now he is ready to go. Queen is a projected first-round pick, and he could even end up being a lottery pick. He has the skills necessary to be a star at the next level, and a popular player comparison for him is Nikola Jokic.

Nikola Jokic is one of the best players in the NBA, and a lot of scouts see shades of him in Derik Queen.

“You kind of got the ‘Baby Jokic’ nickname is what people were calling you right? There’s like [Alperen] Sengun, [Domantas] Sabonis, it’s like a Charmander or Charizard type of thing,” Kevin O'Conner said to Queen during an episode of The Kevin O'Conner Show. “With your game, obviously you’re a bucket getter, you’re a good passer as well. With Jokic, he has the three pointer. Sengun hasn’t developed a three yet, Sabonis started shooting threes this year effectively. With you seems to be the thing that teams want to see from you. Is that what you’re working on most right now is the three-pointer?”

That three-point shot is the one key difference. Queen shot just 20% from deep this past season, so that is in fact a big thing that he is trying to improve.

“Yeah, it’s just all mental and a lot of reps,” he responded. “It’s a work in progress. At the end of my freshman season at Maryland I started hitting them. It’s just confidence, mental, and a lot of reps.”

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In terms of the player comparisons, Queen doesn't really like to think about them as he wants to be a unique player, but when asked, he goes with Nikola Jokic because of how often he hears that one.

“I just go with the basic answer that everybody gives me, Jokic,” he said. “I really try not to compare myself.”

Of all the players in the NBA, Nikola Jokic is a pretty good one to be compared to. Queen has a similar skillset and he has the potential to impact the game in a similar way.

The 2025 NBA Draft will get underway on June 25th from the Barclays Center in New York. It's going to be exciting to see where Derek Queen ends up.