With Kevon Looney sidelined for at least two to three weeks after suffering a knee injury during the Pelicans’ time in Australia, the team is extremely thin at the five spot. Thankfully, the Pelicans announced on Saturday that Derik Queen has been cleared to resume full basketball activities. Queen had been out since July 18th with a wrist injury but now may be ready to join the Pelicans through their first five games.
According to Queen, he’s ready to come back now.
"I feel like I'm ready now. I just went through a hard practice. Its up to the trainers and the coaches," said Queen.
DQ brings something unique to the frontcourt that the Pelicans typically don’t have, regardless of Looney’s health. He’s a mobile big that’s most comfortable running an offense and creating for others. However, there are question marks about his long-term fit alongside Zion Williamson, as of right now this team just needs size and someone who can play and Queen checks both those boxes.
Following Summer League the consensus around Queen seemed to be that he wasn’t fully in game shape, but all the comments Joe Dumars made about him during the rehab process suggest that won’t continue. Since the injury was to his wrist he wasn’t able to play basketball but that meant he had ample time to work on his conditioning.
Don’t expect the same Derik Queen we saw in Summer League to show up this regular season
The entire NBA has put some crazy preassure on Queen because of what New Orleans gave up to get him on draft night, and he knows that and is ready to prove his doubters wrong. Sure there were some glaring issues during Summer League like his turnovers and shot selection at times but it’s all part of the process.
Since his time in Vegas he’s had nearly 3 months to work on his conditioning, study the game, learn the Pelicans system and figure out where he can fit in. I’d argue this injury may have been a blessing in disguise for DQ long-term, as he had times to just fix some habits behind the scenes.
Fans should be stoked that Queen is coming back soon he's a special player and this front office sees a lot in him. He also gets to start the year in what I assume would be a larger role than originally planned because of Looney’s injury.