Washington Wizards guard Carlton Carrington, the Baltimore native picked 14th in last year's NBA Draft, will soon see a friend become a first-round pick. And because the Wizards draft sixth, it's no surprise who Carrington's lobbying for the team to pick.
"I reserve those [opinions] for myself, but I just know my Baltimore buddy, he should come home," Carrington told Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports.
"I never played on his team, but he was my neighbor. He lived, like, three houses down from me, His other side of the family did. So I would see him all the time. We played against each other our whole entire lives, went to the same schools. Me and Derik are very close.
Queen was also a common topic during and after the NBA Combine, where a reporter from the Big Ten asked some of the conference's combine attendees who their toughest opponents were last season.
Derik Queen #Maryland
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— Tyler Rucker (@tyler_rucker) May 1, 2025
"Derik Queen had a good one against us," said Rutgers' Dylan Harper, a projected top-five pick. "I mean, 6-10, can do a little bit of everything. The whole league was good in my opinion. Probably a top-two league in my opinion."
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Queen's answer to that question?
"Nick Martinelli or Danny Wolf," he said.
Illinois' Will Riley talked about which team was the hardest to play. His answer wasn't surprising given the one-sided recent results between the two.
"We played a lot of great guys last year. I don't know if there was one most difficult player. I think the most difficult team might've been Maryland," he said.
More below on Queen, what the scouts are saying about him and his thoughts on moving to Canada: