The New Orleans Pelicans are in the midst of another lost season as they are headed to the lottery for a second straight campaign. In the stacked Western Conference, getting out of the 2-12 hole that they dug themselves will be near impossible. Naturally, they need to embrace the future, and their future belongs to the Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen duo.
It’s hard to point to good things the current Pelicans administration has done since taking over. Giving up their unprotected 2026 first-round pick for the 13th-overall selection in the 2025 NBA Draft was certainly the most questionable move they made. That trade looks even worse now after it’s been made clear that the Pelicans will have one of the worst records in the league at the end of the season.
At the same time, their Fears and Queen picks look like excellent selections after the first four weeks of the season. In fact, the two rookies are off to two of the best starts in the league among first-year players. But, where exactly do they rank among all rookies, and does either of them have a chance to win the Rookie of the Year award?
NBA Rookie Rankings: Who Should Be the Favorite to Win ROY?
There are currently 15 rookies in the league who played in at least ten games and have averaged at least 15 minutes per game. Cooper Flagg, VJ Edgecombe, and Kon Knueppel have played the most minutes and have scored the most points. On ESPN Bet, those three are in a separate tier of candidates, Flagg being the favorite at -105, followed by Knueppel at +165, and Edgecombe at +520.
Behind those three, however, it is a wide-open race. Cedric Coward of the Grizzlies, arguably, has the strongest argument as he currently leads all rookies in almost all advanced metrics, including BPM and Win Shares. He is already a very efficient three-and-D player, averaging 14 points on 47.8/37.1/90.0 shooting splits.
Queen and Fears are not that far behind, however. Fears leads all rookies in usage rate (27.0%), followed by Queen at 22.4%. They are both at 53.4% True Shooting, below league-average, but slightly above-average compared to other rookies. Queen has the best on/off rating among rookies as the Pelicans are a whopping 18 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor than off, per Cleaning the Glass.
Ace Bailey, Collin Murray-Boyles, Tre Johnson, and Ryan Kalkbrenner may be heard from his in this race, and they should be frontrunners to make an All-Rookie team at the end of the year.
So far, Knueppel may have been the most impressive rookie, averaging 17.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game on 46.5/40.2/88.2 shooting splits. Flagg may be behind him for now, but he should still be considered the frontrunner, especially with the Mavs eventually becoming his team as they will inevitably give up on the season. Edgecombe, on the other hand, is trending downward after a very hot start with the Sixers.
The race for the Rookie of the Year will perhaps change more than any other award race, as rookies’ roles within their teams are bound to change as the season progresses. For now, however, Queen and Fears are firmly in the mix, albeit being a little lower than some of the frontrunners. My rankings as of now would be as follows:
1- Kon Knueppel
2- Cooper Flagg
3- VJ Edgecombe
4- Cedric Coward
5- Derik Queen
6- Jeremiah Fears
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