Hours before the biggest start of his life against Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, Derik Queen took a seat in a row of chairs between the New Orleans Pelicans' two practice courts following a recent morning shootaround.
The 20-year-old center acts his age and has a kid-like joy. He has a smile filled with braces and an endearing cartoonish laugh that not even the Pelicans' sinking season has spoiled.
"That's exactly what he is -- a kid," DeAndre Jordan, who won a title with Jokic in 2023 and is now mentoring Queen in New Orleans, told ESPN.