Pelicans Lottery Pick Derik Queen Out For 3 Months After Surgery

The New Orleans Pelicans have been bedevilled for years when it comes to injuries, especially when it comes to franchise cornerstone Zion Williamson. Today, the team announced that one of its newest members, lottery pick Derik Queen, will miss three months due to a wrist injury suffered in Summer League play. 

Queen was one of two players selected in the lottery for New Orleans, with the other being Jeremiah Fears. The Pelicans paid a hefty price to draft the center, dealing a future unprotected first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks in order to move up. 

The center was seen as possibly the most skilled big man in the draft, and those skills were on display in the Summer League. In the three games he played, Queen averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. On the defensive side, he added 1 block per game and averaged 27.1 minutes. 

He will have to clean up his decision-making a bit, as he also led the league in turnovers. There were also concerns about Queen's conditioning during his season at Maryland and league trainers will now work on getting him in shape for the rigors of the NBA. 

The rookie suffered his wrist injury during Summer League and was diagnosed with a torn scapholunate ligament. He underwent surgery last week to repair the tear. 

On the positive side, Queen's injury happened early enough that he won't have to miss any regular season games. It will be incumbent for the rookie to soak up as much information as he can from the sideline since he will be missing out on important practice reps.