The New Orleans Pelicans have two of their brightest young pieces in Las Vegas this week, but Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears are only watching Summer League from the sideline.
That decision has already raised eyebrows, especially because both rookies turned in full seasons and still had enough left in the tank to be around the team and working out this offseason. Pelicans head coach Jamahl Mosley said the main reason they aren’t playing is simple: “Jamahl Mosley says a big reason Fears and Queen are not playing Summer League is they played 82 and 81 games, respectively, this season. They have been around working out with the team though.”
Even with that explanation, it’s hard not to see the opportunity they’re missing. Summer League isn’t just for raw rookies and fringe roster guys anymore.
Around the league, teams increasingly use it to give key young players another run of live reps, and New Orleans has done that before. Trey Murphy III, Dyson Daniels, and Yves Missi all came back for a second Summer League stint, and Missi - like Fears and Queen - earned All-NBA Rookie Second Team honors in his first season.
That’s part of what makes this one feel odd. The Pelicans are trying to build something with this young core, but the two lottery picks are sitting out while the rest of the roster keeps grinding in Vegas.
New Orleans dropped its 12th straight Summer League game on Thursday, a 102-95 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the team hasn’t won a Summer League contest since 2023. Queen and Fears were part of last year’s 0-4 run as well.
For Queen, the value of extra game action feels especially obvious. His numbers dipped once his role shrank.
In December, the former Maryland standout appeared in 15 games and averaged 29 minutes, 15 points, 8.4 rebounds and five assists. By March, he was coming off the bench, playing 19 minutes a night and posting 8.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
His shooting also slid, from nearly 53% in December to 40% from the field in March.
More live reps would have given him a chance to tighten up his shot and sharpen his defensive awareness.
Fears, meanwhile, handled his reduced-minute role better after the All-Star break, but the expectations are only going to rise. The Pelicans are widely expected to move either Jordan Poole or Dejounte Murray at some point this season, and the trade deadline deal that sent backup guard Jose Alvarado out of the picture only thins the backcourt further. That opens the door for Fears, the former Oklahoma standout, to take on more responsibility next season.
New Orleans clearly believes both players are putting in the work. They’ve been around the facility, and the offseason has become a second home. Still, there’s no substitute for playing against someone else under game conditions.
If Queen and Fears make a big jump in efficiency and mental processing, the front office will look smart for protecting them. If they open the season looking rusty, though, this Las Vegas decision will be an easy one to question.
In Other News...
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A 24-year-old wing with defensive value and a respectable three-point touch would have checked a few useful boxes for this roster, and the fact that he had already spent time with the Brooklyn Nets only added to the appeal of a player who could slot into a modern rotation. Instead, he landed with the Los Angeles Lakers, leaving the Pelicans to keep sorting through their options as they continue to shape the back end of the roster with an eye on whatever trades might still be coming. [Read more 🡒]
Pelicans Summer League Standouts Are Suddenly Pressuring A Real Roster Call
Three Summer League games in, the Pelicans have already gotten a better look at the kind of young depth that can make a roster decision more complicated than it looked a week ago. Kobe Bufkins 30-point opener made it clear he has the most NBA-ready offensive game of the bunch, while Malik Dia has followed with the kind of scoring and defensive activity that tends to get front offices paying attention. Jaron Pierre Jr. has also flashed shot-making after earning a start on his 24th birthday, giving New Orleans another guard worth tracking as the summer rolls on.
The bigger question is how all of that fits into a backcourt that already has established names ahead of him, because talent alone does not guarantee a clean path to minutes. Dias case is different, since the Pelicans still have room to sort through their two-way picture and his two-way candidacy is now part of the conversation, but the competition is real and the room is not unlimited. For a team trying to balance development with roster clarity, these games have made the next call feel a lot more immediate than it did when Summer League began. [Read more 🡒]