Derrick Queen, a new "son of Jokic" who amazes the entire NBA

Diego Jiménez Rubio | Fri, 12/12/2025 - 16:02

Derrick Queen, this is how the heir of Jokic plays. Photo: gettyimages

When a special, different player emerges with unsuspected identifying traits, media attention hones in on him, but Derik Queen is not receiving all he deserves based on his performance. This rookie, whom New Orleans Pelicans firmly bet on and who had no playing time in the first few weeks, is astonishing everyone with his numbers but, above all, with his style of play.

Having undergone wrist surgery, breaking into the NBA with the season already underway and without being able to have a proper block of individual and team trainings, it has taken him just over a month to amaze everyone with his basketball level. Elegant, with a spectacular court vision, counter-cultural in his style, and lethal in attack, Derik Queen could establish himself as a generational talent if he continues to progress in this manner.

Some of Derik Queen's lines:

33-10-10-0-3 (11/15 FG)
30-9-4-2-2 (12/18 FG)
26-7-4-0-0 (12/18 FG)
21-8-6-1-0 (8/15 FG)
20-7-11-1-0 (8/17 FG)
20-9-3-2-1 (6/14 FG)
17-5-7-2-0 (8/12 FG)

20-year-old rookie, coming off wrist surgery – no training camp/preseason – doing *this* pic.twitter.com/RJJXGuM9jz
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) December 12, 2025

At 20 years old, he is putting up numbers in games rarely seen, and his movements on the court and the way he distributes the game are very reminiscent of Nikola Jokic. As the natural heir of the Serbian is consolidating himself as a league star, with Alperen Sengun emerging as another "son" of the Nuggets' player, who seems to have built his basketball game in the image of the Serbian. It remains to be seen how he evolves, but Derik Queen promises intense emotions.

Oh my mother, this kid.

It's as if Zach Randolph and Nikola Jokic had a child and handed him over to Kevon Looney before breaking his hip. pic.twitter.com/M09uBGtW5x
— Leandro Carranza (@leocarranza99) December 12, 2025