Nikola Jokic when asked if he sees a bit of himself in Derik Queen: “I can see it, yeah.” This comes a few days after Antonio Daniels reveals a text from Tim Duncan that stated ‘Man, I really like that [Derik] Queen guy.’
The is a bit of Jokic in Derik Queen and there is a bit of Dairy Queen in Jokic
In the summer of 2015, the Nuggets brought their promising young prospect to the famed training center in Santa Barbara, California, to begin working on that doughy frame. After their first dinner, Nikola took out a gallon of ice cream and asked if anyone wanted some. When they declined, he sat down with the tub and spoon and ate it himself.
“I’m like, Are you kidding me?” recalls Karnisovas, the GM, chuckling at the memory. “I was like, You’re gonna have to make a lot of adjustments when you come.”
Damn. Nuggets fans lucky their GM isn’t Nico.
Wish I could upvote this twice lmao
Wish I could upvote your comment thrice lmao
Well done.
There’s a lot of dairy queen in them both
“He’s good enough to have his own story” -Jokic
Jok is a nice dude.
I adore bits like this from Jokic because it is still him being tired of the American sports media bullshit, but doing it in a sincere way instead of his usual deadpan humor.
I feel like the deadpan humor is when it’s just about him, but these types of questions are implicitly downplaying the achievements of others and he’s standing up for them.
How am I supposed to be a hater when all the top guys are such class acts.
It’s easy if you turn your brain off
That thing is annoying. I got rid of it years ago.
Your team has one of the greatest class acts and greatest talents of all time.
Why would you hate on other players, instead of looking forward to the next two decades?
Lots of people who are fans of top players that also happen to be genuinely good dudes for some reason have this need to hate on other players. It makes no sense to me, like Luka fans who hate on Nikola when they’re good friends IRL.
Such an eloquent way to put it for a guy speaking outside his native language
Imagine ask Shaq a question like that, he 100% would say something so utterly stupid.
I love that Jok is trying to let the young guys be special on their own and not make it about him. Queen is going to be a great player, he won’t need comps.
It’s nice to see that Jokic is actually a mature normal dude, in a league with spoiled brats who never had a job and act all immature one way or another, not gonna name anyone but one example’s name starts with JA
Jarrett Allen?
Nah, Jay Huff
😂😂😂Jay Huff, the NBAs biggest diva!

just mature normal dude sorry was just scrolling and NJFL
he won’t need comps.
He was talking about Sengun when they asked him that specifically.
But he is pretty gracious on the young guys on general yeah.
“Watching Derik Queen is like looking in a mirror”
— Michael Jordan
” Derik Queen plays like a younger version of me”
“Derik Queen is going to have sex with more women than I did”
— Wilt Chamberlain
Derik Queen is the goat
- Antony
It’s not surprising that Queen has been good. If you watched him in college it’s pretty easy to see how his game translates.
Probably is people are still stuck in the “upside” evaluation mode where you draft a crazy athlete and hope he learns how to play basketball
Exactly! Eeryone who watched him play knew he was going to ball out in the NBA. So many people get hung up on athleticism they forget that basketball is a skill based game
I was never concerned about the athleticism but the defense and conditioning were a huge concern at Maryland. To his credit, he’s made great strides in both and quickly.
Even if he’s never a great defender cos of his size his offense is going to be so good it doesn’t matter, at least in the regular season
And he’s actually been more than passable on defense. I’m pretty encouraged with what he’s done so far. This roster still has a lot to figure out, but Fears, Trey, Herb, and Queen is a good foundation. We just need to move Zion for whatever we can get and focus every move on what is the best for Queen.
Yeah I love him
Insane how u traded Dyson + 2 FRPs for that 1 guy and didnt even mention him here …
Not that insane because he tore his Achilles. The track record of players coming back from a torn Achilles isn’t good.
He’s also played like 20 games here. It’s hard to be a core piece or trade bait when no one has seen you play in two years
Yeah, I’m just assuming he’s a zero. If we ever get anything from DJM then it’d be a welcome surprise.
He’s more athletic than advertised too.
ill be honest and who knows if im right or not but im not fully convinced on him, sure he had a great game today, he also had an awful game vs okc 2 nights before, which is totally fine for a rookie but I can’t really convince myself that he’s gonna be great from what ive seen from him. fine sure but I honestly don’t see great. I think he’s way closer to Jabari Parker(granted with better vision) or a worse Julius randle than he is to ever becoming a Jokic or sengun level player.
I don’t want to say he doesn’t have a place in the nba but I honestly don’t see the star potential
Like Suns did …
Very humble answer.
It’s so funny to me how even jokic can explain his style only with inaudibly shimmying back and forth
If sengun is baby jokic Derik queen is babyfaced Jokic
Sengun grew though right
Jokic even says “I think im a little bit taller”. If Queen ends up growing a couple inches that could really help
Already nearly 21 doesn’t seem likely but I hope so
Yeah dude looks like an infant out there. Killer potential though, so good
I hope Queen becomes a star and the Pelicans pick ends up being worth the trade. Would really help Queen to not have the asterisk on his name
Great answers
As pelicans fan this is dope to see. Watching the game tonight you could literally see the Pels running the entire offense through Queen. Even Zion took a backseat.
Queen plays with such a great pace and with ease, it’s remarkable for a rookie. Hopefully he continues to get the opportunity to showcase his skill. When Jokic got in the league there was no comp for him, he’s now the standard. The NBA needs to value more high IQ guys man, athleticism alone isn’t enough to have a sustainable career.
I just wish the fans would value it more. Pels are not a great franchise, but man Queen gives me more hope night in and night out watching him play.
Yeah I try and do my part and go to games. Sucks that most fans have kind of given up on the franchise. Cant really blame them since top to bottom this team is disappointing but still
Classy Joker
JOE DUMARS VINDICATED
Dumars still gotta work on his negotiation skills, if multiple front offices are shocked by such a generous offer, you’re doing something wrong.
It’s crazy that multiple front offices can be supposedly shocked by that offer, but 4 teams ahead of Atlanta turned down that offer.
Weird to think there’s a generation of players that grew up watching him but then I remember he’s been in the league 10 years and then EYE feel like a geezer
Tobias: “Inside him lies a Queen. Let me out that Queen.”
Bro why does Jokic talk so damn fast 😭
Wants to go home 😂
He’s got horse races to attend
The derek queen trade is starting to not look so bad, i wonder which team would have drafted him
At this point you have to wonder why only the pelicans saw the potential
Honestly great question
Honestly the Pelicans are actually pretty decent at finding undervalued talent. Murphy, Herb Jones, Queen, Alvarado and even Fears to a degree are all guys Id say the Pelicans did really good getting from a value perspective
The roster still has a lot of holes (especially when Zion isn’t playing) but they got solid foundation pieces and they probably are hoping Zion can stay mostly healthy so they can trade him for something useful this deadline or off-season
Agree. We shamed them but Derik Queen is actually real nice. Question is whether he is worth a top 5 pick where there’s Dybantsa, Boozer and Peterson
He’s got a fauxhawk hanging off his chin
the framerate in this video is really jarring
People clown Troy Weaver (and rightfully so) for his poor GM skills but that man has an eye for talent via the draft. In Detroit he only had one first round bust in 8 picks and that was during the pandemic (Killian Hayes). He drafted Duren, Stew, Cade, Ausar, and Ivey. His mediocre picks were Saddiq Bey (who made the all rookie team and was invited to the US basketball select team and could have been flipped by a better GM for multiple picks after that season) and Sasser (who is a NBA caliber player if nothing else). He was also set to draft Austin Reaves in the second round before Reaves was like “Nah.” I wouldn’t trust him with anything but drafting however, fortunately (lol) he has Joe D to handle that. Things will really suck for a long time New Orleans but at the end you will have a lot of blue chip talent.
Wasn’t one of Weaver’s issues in Detroit also the owner meddling and wanting to hire Monty Williams, while Weaver didn’t?
Though it’s not necessarily too different than New Orleans right now where the owner wanted to keep Willie Green around.
🃏♠️
DMV stand up!
I got destroyed leading to the draft in here saying he’s a top 3 player this year in this year’s draft. If you watched college you could see it. Before the Sixers had 3 he’s who I was hoping for. The people that wanted Ace Bailey over him were crazy.
He reminds me of boris.
GOAT with class. Shaq could never be gracious with up and coming guys like Dwight Howard and Yao.