NBA Draft Prospect could end up being monumental chess move for Toronto Raptors front office

The allure of Derik Queen’s offensive tools and late-game confidence makes him a fantastic prospect.

Maryland’s Derik Queen enters the 2025 NBA Draft as the most versatile big in this draft, with his array of moves and utility all over the floor. The Terrapin freshman showcased his skill-based game, which played a pivotal role in Maryland’s successful campaign, providing clutch moments throughout the season.

Queen finished his lone year at Maryland with 16.5 points, nine boards, and almost two assists in 36 games. His performance was enough to earn him a unanimous Big Ten Freshman of the Year and 1st Team All-Big Ten. He’s provided several clutch performances for Maryland, leading them to a 4th seed in their region and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen before falling short to the eventual champs, Florida Gators.

Queen’s draft stock was at an all-time high after that buzzer-beater against Colorado State, but questions about his height, position, shooting, defence, and conditioning/effort caused his draft stock to cool down. However, luckily for Queen, his NBA Draft Combine measurements saved his draft stock from plummeting even further after showing up with a decent 6’9.25” height without shoes and a 7’0.5” wingspan.

Mock Draft Range

Best rank: 6 / Worst rank: 18

(Per Hoopshype’s Aggregate Mock Draft 6.0)

Strengths

It’s hard to find a “big” that can do what Derik Queen can do offensively. Skilled NBA bigs pose a matchup and scouting problem, allowing coaches to open up and be more creative with their playbooks.

Queen’s got an excellent handle, footwork, and an array of moves inside the arc, and along with his vision, projects as a multi-utility “big” that can do something with the ball almost anywhere on the floor, he can:

• Initiate the fastbreak: Queen’s handle and court vision allow him to quickly pivot from securing the rebound to putting the ball on the floor to start the transition attack or make that hit-ahead outlet pass.
• Run the floor: His handle, finishing, and mobility allow him to go coast-to-coast or run the transition as the play finisher.
• Be a slasher: Queen’s got enough quickness and array of moves for him to play off-ball and catch the ball on the move going downhill.

• ISO and face up from the perimeter: he’s not afraid to pull up with or without the dribble, step into a middy, or lull his defender and drive to the basket.
• Park at the high post or low post: he can make plays on either block, whether to traditionally post up, drive to the basket, find his teammates, or pull up for a shot.
• Be a passing threat at any given time: His good court vision, mapping, and quick recognition allow him to make split-second passes.
• Pass or finish with either hand: he can go to the basket and lay it up with either hand or finish with a sweeping or baby hook going left or right.
• Queen’s got counters: his excellent footwork, spin moves, and change of pace moves, along with his ambidextrous finishing, make it hard to predict what he’ll do with the ball.

One of my favourite aspects of Queen’s game is his stage presence. He’s shown time and again that he will rise to the challenge when the team needs someone to bail them out on several occasions. His late-game shot-making against Illinois and “ice in his veins” free-throw against Indiana was a treat to watch. It’s also worth noting that he came up with a clutch block against Illinois. Queen’s Big 10 performance vs Michigan was fun to watch, too, as he took over the game offensively in the second half en route to a 31-point career night. However, Queen’s forever etched in Terrapins lore with his buzzer-beater to lift Maryland to a 72-71 win over Colorado State. I love players who can say this in clutch moments:

Weakness

Queen’s wide array of tools in his offensive “bag” should warrant high lottery considerations, right? That should be the case, but there are glaring issues that would make decision-makers think twice before picking him.

First is the defensive end. Unfortunately, Queen is incredibly gifted offensively, but the skills don’t extend past the offensive end. Queen is either subpar or non-existent in the traditional areas that you need from a big defensively: rim protection, pick-and-roll defence, help defence, and rebounding.

Queen is undersized as a center, with a slightly above-average wingspan, and his subpar athleticism hinders his projection as a center at the NBA level. Successful undersized NBA bigs typically have a massive wingspan and/or insane athleticism to compensate and thrive at the NBA level as a center, but he’s got neither. He could theoretically improve defensively with better conditioning — he would need to demonstrate increased energy and activity on the defensive end, complemented by good hand-eye coordination and a solid feel for the game, as evidenced by his ability to deflect or swipe the ball, provided his hands are up. It’s fun to see him pull off the “pulling the chair” method while defending post-ups, which would often lead to a bad possession with the player making a bad shot or getting blocked by Queen. He could be a decent positional and help defender at best.

Despite having good fluidity and a wide array of moves that Queen can pull off, his game is clearly at the “below the rim” level, which might scare NBA decision-makers. At the collegiate level, he’s typically one of the bigger guys on the floor, and his combination of size, strength, mobility, and skill set was good enough for him to be one of the better players this past season. However, Queen’s had issues finishing around the rim, as he lacked explosiveness, which was evident in his athletic and agility drills at the NBA Draft Combine.

Queen’s standing vertical of 23.5” and max vertical leap of 28” are both tied as the lowest in this NBA Draft Combine. It’s hard to find bigs that have had success in the NBA outside of Nikola Vucevic and DeMarcus Cousins, who are comparable to those numbers. The challenge for Queen here is, if he’s going to be on the “skilled big” route, he’ll need to polish his bag, on top of working on his body similar to undersized bigs like Kevin Love, who transition from playing center in college to a skilled PF at the NBA level.

Queen needs to step it up defensively — it’s not a good look when opposing teams hunt him, identifying him as the weakest link on Maryland’s defence. If he’s a negative defender, Queen would need to excel offensively, and he’ll need to be much more effective without the ball, as there are plenty of players that coaches would prefer to touch the ball more often than him.

I’m not too worried about Queen’s shooting; in fact, I believe it’s something that would improve at the NBA level. The shooting form is quite good, and his in-game shooting from mid-range and long-range, along with his free-throw clip, supports the notion that there’s an upside there.

Raptors Fit

If there’s one takeaway from this current postseason, you can’t go wrong with adding another player who can provide more layers to the team’s offence. Derik Queen is a multiplier on the offence — his utility as a playmaker, hub, and finisher aligns with Coach Darko Rajakovic’s egalitarian offence.

Queen is an upgrade over Jonathan Mogbo, and there’s an alternate universe where you can see those two play together (Raptors 905?), although a Queen-Jakob Poeltl might be better. It’s not ideal on both pairings, but if Queen’s perimeter shot goes down at a decent clip, the pairings won’t look too bad.

It’s hard to see Queen outside of a bench role, even on the Raptors, as the starters are set, and I have some reservations about whether Queen can soak up starter minutes in the middle in case Poeltl misses time due to injuries. His defensive limitations would allow him to play center in spot-up minutes at best, but he can be a liability, especially when facing opposing teams’ starters. However, it’s interesting to see him on the floor on Scottie Barnes + bench lineups, which should include Ja’Kobe Walter and Gradey Dick.