Dylan Harper spoils Derik Queen's triple-double in rookie clash - ESPN

NEW ORLEANS — The postgame jersey exchange seemed inevitable after a showcase of rookies unfolded at Smoothie King Center with Dylan Harper helping San Antonio best New Orleans 135-132 on Monday night to spoil a historic night from Pelicans rookie Derik Queen.

«I'm happy for him,» Queen said of Harper. "[I] played against him in college, knew him growing up, played against him in middle school. I'm just looking forward to more battles against him. I think I was on Twitter or something. Somebody said the next [draft] class is going to be better than us or something like that."

Harper and Queen made strong cases for the Class of 2025.

The 13th pick in this year's NBA draft, Queen scored a game-high 33 points with 10 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks to become the first rookie center in NBA history to produce a 30-point triple-double, according to ESPN Research.

No. 2 pick Harper finished with a career-high 22 points to go along with three rebounds and six assists.

«Special night for him,» Pelicans interim coach James Borrego said of Queen. «He was great. He did a really good job defensively on the boards, controlled the offense. We ran a lot of our stuff through him. He was fantastic.»

So was Harper, a lefty who pushed past Saddiq Bey with 9.1 seconds left on a physical drive that ended with a right-handed layup that gave San Antonio a 1-point lead.

«At the beginning of the year I was a little iffy, a little hesitant, like, 'Yeah, I'm the new guy. I'm trying to figure it out,'» Harper said. «But as the season kept going, my teammates and coaches just encouraged me to be me. Plays like that just show that I'm gonna attack the rim no matter what.»

Teammate Stephon Castle, the reigning NBA rookie of the year, took notice.