The New Orleans Pelicans almost certainly traded too much to acquire Derik Queen in the 2025 NBA Draft.
But Queen is doing his part to make the deal look at least a little better.
On Friday night, Queen made some cool history that hasn't been done in a half-century -- he reached 200 career assists faster than any center has reached that mark in 50 years, according to Real Sports.
Most notably, that means he did it faster than Nikola Jokic, the best passing big man ever who is officially the NBA's all-time assists leader for a center.
Data on which center may have done it faster that long ago wasn't readily available.
Friday night is Queen's 46th career game.
He entered the game averaging 4.4 assists per night.
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There was always a belief that Queen had some playmaking ability, but the Pelicans have used him more as an offensive initiator than most would've expected, especially as a rookie.
There have been growing pains for the big fella who was one-and-done out of Maryland, but Queen has also shown he has a skillset that can be built around.
New Orleans' future is brighter with Queen than without him.
The only downside is the pick they traded to Atlanta is currently in the driver's seat to be the No. 1 choice in the stacked 2026 NBA Draft.
Queen will really have to keep being a rising star to make that feel a bit less bad.
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