The New Orleans Pelicans have been nothing short of a disaster this season, but one of the few bright spots for this team has been rookie Derik Queen.

The desire of the Pelicans to draft the 6’10 center has become one of the most notorious stories in recent memory, which makes his strong start a most welcome development. New Orleans essentially traded two picks that are likely to be high lottery selections in next year’s draft to land Queen. Unless he turns into the second coming of Nikola Jokic, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where the Pelicans walk away from this deal as the long term winners.

Nonetheless, Queen is drowning out the noise and is showing the rest of the league why New Orleans was so enamored by him heading into the draft. He has drawn comparisons to Jokic himself and the chances of him living up to these expectations grows with each passing game.

The 20-year-old moved into the Pelicans’ starting line-up immediately after their now-former head coach Willie Green was fired and has not disappointed. In the three games since, he has averaged 16 points on 53.1% field goal shooting, eight rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 steals, and two blocks.

Unironically, the best performance of his brief NBA career to date came against Jokic himself in New Orleans’ latest outing versus the Denver Nuggets. Queen was unafraid of Jokic and took him off the dribble at every opportunity that he could. He scored 15 of his team-high 30 points over the last nine minutes of the fourth quarter as he led the Pelicans’ last ditch rally. Though they ultimately fell short, dropping their seventh game in a row, 125-118, Queen’s fighting spirit was undeniable.

What’s most encouraging about Queen’s first few outings is that he seems to already have Zion Williamson’s trust. The pairing has worked well so far—both have above-average vision and playmaking. The clincher here is that Queen’s jumper is getting better by the day and this allows him to space the floor while freeing up Williamson to operate inside.

While New Orleans is still much closer to the bottom of the standings than the top, the emergence of Queen gives this franchise hope for better days ahead. He has the potential to be a perennial NBA All-Star and his current dynamics with Williamson bring hope that better days are ahead for this team. It might take awhile for the Pelicans to return to the postseason, but as Denver has proven with Jokic, sometimes all it takes is patience. 

The question now is whether New Orleans can give Queen the leeway to grow into the throne that awaits.