It’s the final weekend before the NBA regular season begins, which means you’re coming here for your fantasy basketball drafts.
Should you draft Derik Queen this season? Here’s the latest outlook, projections, and rankings for the NO Center.
Should You Draft Derik Queen in Fantasy Basketball?
In Joe Dumars’ first major move as the New Orleans Pelicans’ executive vice president of basketball operations, he shocked the NBA world by trading the No. 23 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to the Atlanta Hakws to land Derik Queen with the No. 13 overall pick. This could end up being a high lottery pick (the Pelicans won just 21 games last season), so that tells you how badly the Pelicans wanted Queen.
While Queen should have plenty of appeal in dynasty leagues, he’s tough to trust this season given the uncertainty surrounding his role. Zion Williamson and Yves Missi are New Orleans’ frontcourt starters, and Queen will have to compete with Kevon Looney for reserve minutes. If injuries decimate the Pelicans’ roster again, Queen could be intruiging. However, he’s more of a potential waiver add than someone fantasy managers should be targeting in drafts.
Looking for more fantasy basketball outlooks? Head over to our NBA landing page for analysis on 200 players.
What Are Queen’s Fantasy Basketball Projections This Season?
Based on our proprietary metrics here at PFSN, we project Queen to score 1,430.0 fantasy points this season, with him averaging 9.0 points per game.
This includes 3.7 field goals per game, 0.2 three-pointers per game, 1.5 free throws per game, 5.2 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists per game, 0.7 steals per game, and 0.9 blocks per game.
Where Does Derik Queen Rank in the Upcoming Fantasy Basketball Season?
Queen is ranked 139th overall and 31st at his position. The five players ranked ahead of him overall include VJ Edgecombe, Kevin Huerter, Jared McCain, Joel Embiid, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The five players ranked behind him overall include Tyus Jones, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Black, Paul George, and Dejounte Murray.
The five players ranked ahead of him at his position include Daniel Gafford, Yves Missi, Dereck Lively II, Brook Lopez, and Embiid.
The five players ranked behind him at his position include Goga Bitadze, Kyle Filipowski, Mason Plumlee, Jonas Valančiūnas, and Jusuf Nurkić.
