Magic Minutes: G League MVP Trevelin Queen Shining With Orlando
To all the casual fans who say that the G League doesn’t matter and that those guys can’t contribute quality minutes in the NBA, the Orlando Magic has a two-way MVP in Trevelin Queen that just proved otherwise.
Against the Sacramento Kings in a game where the Magic came up just short in a double-overtime thriller, Queen played a whopping 38 minutes, the third-most on the team, just behind the star of the franchise Paolo Banchero (45 minutes) and Jalen Suggs (39 minutes).
Former G League MVP Trevelin Queen (21) played significant minutes for the Orlando Magic in the team's latest game.
Isaiah De Anda Delgado
Of those three players, Queen was the only player to have a positive plus-minus on the stat sheet, with the 26-year-old shooting guard posting a line of five points, two rebounds, two steals, one block, zero turnovers, and an impressive six assists which led the team on the night.
Although an unknown name to most NBA fans, at age 26, Queen has been a dominant force in the NBA G League for years, where over his first three seasons, he averaged 20.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
Queen's first three seasons in the G League, he proved that he can be a part of winning basketball teams, winning both MVP of the league and a championship in his second season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Houston Rockets affiliate) before a stint with the Indiana Mad Ants (Indiana Pacers affiliate) prior to joining Orlando as a two-way player this season spending time with Osceola this year where he has been a force.
In Osceola this season, Queen has averaged 24.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists while shooting 51.2 percent from the field. Because of Queen's stellar play, he was recently named a member of the All Showcase Team following the NBA G League Winter Showcase, which provides players a platform to perform in front of NBA scouts and prove they have what it takes to make it at the next level.
Perhaps Queen stepping up in his second opportunity to play minutes for the Magic will earn him more time with the NBA team in the future. Prior to playing for Orlando, Queen had just 17 games of experience in the league with the Pacers and Rockets but had played sparingly, only averaging 8.5 minutes in those games.
The talented shooting guard may not be who Orlando fans expected to see step up after a Franz Wagner ankle injury, but his performance for the shorthanded Magic shows just how important the G League is to developing the team's bench.
Queen's next potential opportunity to play for Orlando will come tonight on the road against the Denver Nuggets at 9 pm. ET.
