Pelicans’ Joe Dumars hits back after widely scrutinized NBA draft trade
Pelicans president of basketball operations Joe Dumars couldn’t help but laugh while addressing “naysayers” and the noise surrounding New Orleans’ 2025 rookie class.
The Pelicans faced backlash over their decision to give up an unprotected first-round pick in next year’s draft to the Hawks, in order to trade up 10 spots to select Maryland’s Derik Queen with the No. 13 overall pick in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday.
During a press conference introducing the Pelicans’ new rookie class Saturday, Dumars was confident in his team’s draft, which included taking Oklahoma point guard Jeremiah Fears at No. 7.
“I’ve been doing this way too long to give credence to naysayers,” Dumars said. “I will say this, though. We’re going to trod our own path here, we’re not going to go by anyone else’s playbook.
“These are the guys that we really wanted as Pelicans, and we’re super, super happy to have them here.”
Dumars emphasized that the Pelicans targeted players with high basketball IQs.
“We just want guys who are smart, tough and competitive with basketball IQs,” he said. “That’s who we are. That’s the profile of who we want all the players to be at the Pelicans… You don’t have to tell high IQ guys how to play with somebody else.”
Queen explained the outside noise is “definitely” added motivation for him entering the league — and that he’s going to develop and make Dumars “look like a genius” for drafting him.
“I don’t think anybody in that [draft] class is ever going to be better than me, so I block all the noise out,” Queen said. “[Dumars has] a lot of faith in me. Most of those guys I beat on in high school… I know the NBA is a whole different level, so I just got to continue getting better, don’t get too big-headed, don’t get too low. And just beat on them next year when they come in and make Joe look like a genius.”
The 6-foot-9 center averaged 16.5 points, 9 rebounds and 2.2 combined steals and blocks in his freshman season at Maryland.
The Pelicans’ decision to give up next year’s first-round pick for 20-year-old Queen was widely criticized, with The Ringer’s Bill Simmons calling the move “one of the five dumbest trades of this decade.”
The Pelicans finished the 2024-25 season at 21-61 and missed the playoffs.