Out of all my player evaluations during the 2025 NBA Draft cycle, none have proven tougher than Derik Queen. On one hand, it’s very easy to write him off. With below-average length, a terrible max vertical, and poor agility testing at the NBA Draft Combine, Queen logged a historically bad 5.8 Combine Score per Nick Kalinowski. Few first-round picks have ever tested so poorly, and it often shows up on the court defensively. Pair this with a questionable shooting projection (20% 3PT on 1.8 attempts per 100 possessions) and you potentially have one of the worst archetypes in modern-day basketball: a non-shooting, non-defending big. But this lens is reductive of what makes Queen special.

Queen produced one of the greatest inside-the-arc self-creating big man seasons in modern NCAA history, powered by historically (yes, historically) good driving. Per Synergy, he logged a 26.8% drive rate and scored 0.98 points per possession on 158 driving possessions. He scored efficiently, drew a ton of fouls, and rarely turned the ball over despite handling at a massive volume, resulting in an all-time-great driving profile. For reference, Julius Randle and Paolo Banchero are really the only comparable 6’9”+ drivers in the Synergy era. Randle posted a 24.5% drive rate on 0.89 points per possession, and though Paolo posted a 29.0% drive rate, he scored just 0.78 points per possession. Queen bests both when integrating volume and efficiency, and he wins on drives by blending strength with impressive changes of direction, deceleration, and touch.

Queen largely uses his tools to get to the rim, but he has an advanced midrange game that serves as a counter. His coordination and clean energy transfer from dribble to shot allow him to get pullup twos and floaters off in a variety of situations. The result is an 80.9% unassisted rate on 133 non-rim two attempts. Only seven 6’9+ freshman logged 100+ midrange attempts with a 75% unassisted rate: Paolo Banchero, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, GG Jackson, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid, and Derik Queen. Only Ingram and Jackson surpassed his unassisted rate, essentially meaning no freshman big in modern NCAA history was a better midrange self-creator than Queen. Queen did play his freshman year at a true sophomore age. But when his inside-the-arc self-creation is so historically good, that datapoint becomes slightly less relevant.

For as good an interior scorer as Queen is, though, he’s an inversely terrible defender. His absence of rim protection as a center pigeonholes him at the power forward position, where his poor footspeed is spotlighted and renders him a complete negative on defense. As a defensively harmful power forward, it’s vital that he stretches the floor well to recoup as much offensive value as possible. He didn’t shoot many threes last season and didn’t efficiently convert the ones he did take, but he possesses excellent touch and energy transfer as exhibited in his pullup twos and floaters. Among all the players in the midrange query above, Queen is 1st in FT% (76.6%), and all but Randle have become consistent floor spacers in the NBA. Even Randle has hovered at 35% 3PT on ~8 3PA/100 for the past five seasons, an outcome that would still net Queen soft closeouts to attack off the catch. All in all, I buy Queen’s shot to be at least passable.

How you rank Queen is ultimately a reflection of your own evaluatory philosophies. I personally build boards with a strong emphasis on my perception of a prospect’s median outcome. Given Queen’s integration of poor defense, a non-elite shooting projection, and sophomore age, I cannot rank him any higher than 8th. But if I’m a team in the mid-to-late lottery range with strong defensive insulation and a weak offense (hint hint: Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers), I don’t see a more tantalizing swing than Baltimore’s very own.

Maurya Kumpatla