Re-Grading the Derik Queen Trade Now That It's Finalized After Hawks' No. 8 Selection

One of the most polarizing trades in New Orleans Pelicans history was finalized on Tuesday. A year ago, the Pelicans traded away their 2026 first-round pick to the Hawks, along with the No. 23 pick in last year's draft, for Atlanta's No. 13 pick. New Orleans selected Derik Queen with that pick.

Atlanta, on the other hand, used the No. 23 pick to select Asa Newell last year. The 2026 pick they got from New Orleans ended up being the eighth-overall pick in the draft lottery.

On Tuesday, the Hawks used that pick on Houston guard Kingston Flemings. So, the final terms of the deal turned out to be:

Atlanta receives: Asa Newell, Kingston Flemings
New Orleans receives: Derik Queen

Since Queen showed positive flashes in his rookie campaign, many Pelicans fans may feel more favorably towards the trade. Queen's offensive upside could see him reach an All-Star level in his career. Newell and Flemings may not have the same upside.

However, the draft is not only about the upside. While it makes sense to focus more on the positives of young players, their weaknesses are what stand in their way of stardom. And unfortunately, Queen has a ton of them.

Even after a full season in the NBA, what Queen's best position is remains unclear. He is too bad a defender and a rebounder to play center full-time. And he is too bad a shooter to play power forward full-time.

Due to his defensive concerns, Queen requires a center next to him. Most centers, however, aren't shooters. This makes Queen's fit next to another big man highly questionable.

For Queen to become a quality starter, let alone an All-Star, he has to show significant improvement on the defensive side of the ball. If he can't, then he has to become one of the best offensive players in the game to compensate for his defensive liability.

For Flemings, however, the path to being a quality starter is more obvious. He projects to be a two-way player as he has impacted the game defensively at the collegiate level. He has too many elite skills, including his first step, quickness, decision-making, and mid-range shooting, for him to be a total bust.

Newell hasn't shown much in his rookie campaign, but he was efficient in his limited minutes. He was also highly productive in his G League stint. If he continues to improve his shooting, he could be a versatile power forward in the league for a long time.

Plus, the assessment of this trade for the Pelicans is less about the outcome and more about the process. Regardless of who Queen, Flemings, and Newell become as NBA players, this was a horrendous process from the Pelicans front office.

If New Orleans hadn't traded away their 2026 first-round pick, they could have tanked down the stretch last season to maximize their lottery odds. Only because they were still trying at the end, they were able to climb up the standings and lower Atlanta's odds in the draft lottery.

Instead of finishing with the seventh-worst record like they did last season, the Pelicans could have made sure they finished with one of the three worst records and had over 50% chance to select in the top four. This could have landed them one of AJ Dybantsa, Caleb Wilson, Cam Boozer, and Darryn Peterson.

The fact that the Hawks didn't end up with one of the bona fide star prospects like Dybantsa, Boozer, Peterson, or Wilson could be seen as redeeming the Pelicans front office.

If Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver feel vindicated with how this trade turned out, this would be a bad sign for the Pelicans organization. Just because the trade didn't have the worst outcome possible doesn't mean that it wasn't a huge mistake.

Grade: D-

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