Derik Queen's NBA Draft Stock Reportedly 'Dinged' Over Conditioning, Shooting Concerns

Maryland center Derik Queen's stock reportedly may be headed in the wrong direction ahead of the 2025 NBA draft.

According to Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo Sports, the 20-year-old's draft stock got "dinged" by some NBA executives at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago due to "concern over his conditioning and his lack of progress as a shooter."

Queen was one of the top freshmen in college basketball last season, as he averaged 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 52.6 percent from the field.

The 6'10" big man was the best player on a Terrapins team that went 27-9, reached the Sweet 16 and was ranked as high as No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Queen was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and selected to the All-Big Ten first team, and his draft stock seemed to be on the rise after he dropped 27 points in a Sweet 16 loss to the eventual national champion Florida Gators.

However, O'Connor noted that multiple wings in the 2025 draft have seen their stock improve, which could result in a big such as Queen falling down draft boards.

Bleacher Report NBA draft expert Jonathan Wasserman still has Queen as a lottery pick, as he projected the Atlanta Hawks to take him 13th overall in his latest mock draft.

O'Connor disagreed, predicting that Queen will fall out of the lottery and land with the Washington Wizards at No. 18 overall.

Queen doesn't necessarily have the type of versatility most teams look for, as he shot just 20.0 percent from beyond the arc last season and made a total of seven three-pointers.

Still, there is room in the NBA for players who do the bulk of their damage on the interior, and few players in this year's draft class are better than Queen in that regard.