New Orleans Pelicans reveal Derik Queen's jersey number
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Following his incredible freshman season with the Maryland Terrapins, Derik Queen is now embarking on his professional career in the NBA. This week, the New Orleans Pelicans traded up 10 spots to get Queen with the No. 13 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. On Saturday, the Pelicans revealed the jersey number that Queen will be wearing.
Mr. @derikqueen1 will be No. 22 🔥 pic.twitter.com/h6gov4sPOE
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) June 28, 2025
Although the Pelicans' aggressive pursuit of Queen was met with some criticism from analysts, the folks in New Orleans feel differently. Joe Dumars, who serves as the Pelicans' EVP of basketball operations, said that they view Queen as a foundational player for the franchise.
"Here's what I've said to the staff. When you identify a player that you think can be one of the foundations here, you go and get him," Dumars said. "And that's what we did. We targeted Queen; we thought he could be a heck of an addition here, and we were really aggressive about going and getting him in this draft."
Given how productive he was as a true freshman with the Terrapins, there's little doubt that Queen can develop into a solid center in the NBA. He's not necessarily a guy who can overpower defenders with his back to the basket, but his ball skills and high IQ make up for whatever he lacks physically.
During his single season in College Park, Queen earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team. He led the Terps in scoring with 16.5 points per game, along with 9.0 rebounds per game. He set the Terrapins' freshman scoring record with 594 points, and he accounted for 12 games of 20 points or more, along with 15 double-doubles.
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Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. In January of 2025, he took over as Publisher for Maryland On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.
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