NBA Summer League in Las Vegas opens with a bang
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After Derik Queen's Summer League debut for the Pelicans, analyst Kevin O'Connor many red flags from the outing.
The shortest offseason in sports belongs to the NBA, as things move very quickly following the end of the season. The Oklahoma City Thunder just won the NBA Finals, with the draft taking place just three days later.
Although Fears was the higher draft pick, even more focus will be on Queen. He is the player who first-year executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars traded up 10 spots for in the draft to select. In that trade with the Atlanta Hawks, the Pelicans gave up their first-round draft pick in the 2026 draft.
The New Orleans Pelicans made headlines this 2025 NBA Draft when they drafted big man Derik Queen out of Maryland.
"Joan was incredible," head coach Kevin Hanson said.
Thursday night’s matchup between Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks and Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers was the fourth-most-watched Summer League game ever, per ESPN.
The best of them was French point guard Nolan Traore, who looked like a guy who has played against men before (he played professionally in France last year) and was comfortable, finishing with 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting and getting to the line six times. It was a promising start.