Derik Queen sat as reporters circled him. The New Orleans Pelicans rookie center had one of the first big performances of his NBA career — 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and four steals in 18 minutes in a November win — when a voice boomed from just beyond the crowd.
“Stand up, Queen! Hell no! Hold on. You gotta stand up, Queen! You can’t let them hover around you. You gotta stand up, dawg.”
Veteran DeAndre Jordan, an All-NBA center and All-Star over 18 seasons, was turning this into a teachable moment for the 20-year-old he’s now charged with backing up.
“Big dawg, you had 12-8-7 tonight! Don’t sit down! You gotta stand on that s—,” Jordan yelled as he made his way across the Pelicans locker room. “There you go, right on!”
Not so long ago, Jordan would have been the NBA big man fielding questions after a win. A two-time league rebounding leader, a champion with the Denver Nuggets in 2023 and Jordan remains the NBA’s all-time leader in career field goal percentage (67.4). Only Hall of Famers Shaquille O’Neal (10) and Wilt Chamberlain (nine) have led the NBA in that category more often than Jordan (five).
Still, life comes at you fast in the NBA. For the lucky few who get to choose, you can either adjust or retire. Now, at 37, Jordan finds himself an unofficial coach of the Pelicans’ big men on and off the court.
In late October, Jordan signed a one-year deal with New Orleans, his eighth NBA team, with the expectation that he would play a little (he has played in 10 games, starting six so far this season) but mostly help their young players develop. He’s already proven good at the latter.
“He’s a psychologist, he’s a mentor, he’s a friend, he’s a cheerleader, he’s a coach and he’s wearing five to six different hats every night,” Pelicans coach James Borrego said. “The beauty in DeAndre is, whatever is required in the moment, he’s willing to step and give.
“And sometimes that’s an X or O or it’s just love. And that’s not easy to do. That’s what makes him so special.”
However, making the pivot to mentor when you still have basketball left in you can be harder than it seems. Many players can’t or won’t make that adjustment. For him to get there, Jordan had to do the work internally.
“When your career changes, your ego kind of dies a little bit with that in order to reinvent yourself as a person, as a player,” Jordan said. “I feel like a lot of times our ego — which is great at certain times because it got us to where we are — can be a little on my shoulder telling me ‘Nah, you need to do more. This is bulls—.’
“But now I’m at a different place in my life where I’m cool with my role. I’m happy, but I still love to compete. I still love to play, but I know that this is the younger generation’s time, and I want to be able to put back into that.”
This is what he was brought to New Orleans to do.
In the NBA, being a good vet is about seeing beyond yourself and helping others raise their level. Jordan brings leadership, honesty and authenticity to the Pelicans, Borrego said.
Understanding that older players like Baron Davis and Marcus Camby were there for him, Jordan wants to pay it forward, but he’s not yet passing the torch.
“It means I’m near the end of my career,” he said. “I’m at peace with that. As a competitor, you want to always get better, and you want to have an impact and imprint on the game.
“So if my imprint on the game is being a locker room presence, being able to play every other couple games and have an impact coaching guys on the floor, I’m still bringing something to the game.”
Jordan’s presence helps establish culture, keeps spirits high and works as an extension of the coaching staff. He says he would consider coaching after his playing days are through, but it’s something he would need to discuss with his wife and family. Right now, Jordan feels as if he’s already in a player-coach role in New Orleans.
Throughout the early history of the NBA, the role of “player-coach” wasn’t an honorary title, but an official one: Dave DeBusschere with Detroit, Bill Russell with the Celtics, Dave Cowens with the Celtics and Lenny Wilkens in Portland and Seattle served as head coach and player at the same time. In today’s league, though, the role of a player as a coach or mentor has become an informal yet influential position.
Thanks to his NBA journey, Jordan can command respect and communicate and connect with younger players in ways many on the coaching staff cannot. At his peak, Jordan was a valuable cog for arguably the LA Clippers’ most successful stretch in team history — Lob City, anyone? — during which they logged the league’s fourth-best record from the 2011-12 to 2017-18 seasons. As a member of the 2023 Nuggets, Jordan was the backup to Nikola Jokić, the reigning MVP, on the way to Denver’s first NBA championship. He has a unique understanding of growing up in the NBA, the way the league works and how life can be off the court when you’re one of the elite players. He carries the lessons learned from his own veterans.
“I’ve always respected the generations before me,” Jordan said. “So being able to see somebody who I look up to and who’s been a great vet his entire career was (Heat legend) Udonis Haslem.
“Being able to see him do that and win three championships was really cool,” Jordan said. “So if somebody like that can do it, who’s highly respected in the organization then so can I.”
Haslem, whose NBA career spanned 20 years largely because he provided a late-career on-court “coach” presence, is often mentioned as one of the most impactful OGs of the league. With his understanding of veteran leadership, players looking to stick around tend to reach out to Haslem.
Jordan was one of those guys.
“You start to pay attention. You have to be self-aware,” Haslem said. “And the thing about DeAndre, and the thing it was about me, is not always that you can’t play or you can’t be impactful on the basketball court.
“So that’s the hardest part about it, for a guy like myself or DeAndre, that we can still play, we can go out there and still impact the game.
For Haslem, investing in young guys and watching them reach their goals is a gift not only to them but to the veteran. Pouring into them keeps the elder player invested in the game.
“You almost have to be willing to go through some tough times and just understand what the main goal is,” Halsem said, “to figure out a way to impact winning no matter what situation you’re put in.
“And that’s the way I tried to look at it, whether I was a starter, whether I was coming off the bench as a sixth man, or whether I wasn’t playing at all. I want to figure out a way to help this team win and be impactful.”
Using a mix of honesty, constructive criticism and jokes — similar to the approach used by past veteran players — Jordan has found success in connecting with his teammates.
“Some of these guys are coming in, they’re so young now, but they’re ultra-talented,” Haslem said. “The talent right now is unmatched. So to be able to tap in with those guys and just be there for those guys and gain those guys’ trust, I think that’s the biggest thing you can do for them.”
Though he’s older, Jordan, 37, is just as playful as the younger Pelicans. When they’re going through tough stretches, he plays pranks to remind them how fun playing basketball is supposed to be. And Jordan takes the role seriously.
During games he hasn’t started, Jordan is quick off the bench at every timeout, moving to offer high-fives and mind melds in the little time afforded them. His years of basketball wisdom allow him to quickly see a mistake and help fix it in real time. When a player is upset, Jordan steps in.
“I think it’s an unselfish spirit, more than anything,” Borrego said. “He’s got an unselfish spirit that draws you in, that is giving, it’s honest, it’s direct, and it’s loving. That’s who he is.”
Playing or not, Jordan is often at the center of every Pelicans players huddle. Stephen Lew / Imagn Images
The relationship between Jordan and Queen isn’t just vet and rookie but big brother and little brother and has quickly become something special. There’s an ease in the way they interact that would make you believe they’ve always known each other. They laugh and joke, but there are serious moments. Queen takes Jordan’s constructive feedback to heart and says Jordan gives him advice on his future and financial matters, like making smart investments and navigating his newfound celebrity.
“He’s going to be a Hall of Famer,” Queen said. “So him just dropping gems on me and teaching me a lot means a lot. It’s good having him in my corner, because I want to get to where he is.”
The respect is mutual. Jordan sees a bright future for all of his young teammates, not just Queen.
“They’re all truly talented,” Jordan said, “(Jeremiah) Fears is 19 years old. He’s supposed to be in college. DQ (Queen) is a starting center in the NBA, in the Western Conference, with a ton of talent. Micah Peavy is 24 years old, a rookie playing a ton of minutes.
“We’re asking a lot of those guys, but their responsibility is to be ready, and we got to be able to hold them accountable. Because in their second year, they’ll be even more prepared and ready to go. So they got a head start.”
There’s pride in Jordan’s voice at helping the young players gain their footing in the NBA. He views what he’s doing in New Orleans as vital to what it means to be an NBA veteran.
“You know, you can’t compile our mistakes and let one turn into three,” Jordan said. “I’m giving them the same advice and pointers that I got when I was a young player with emotions on my shoulder the entire game.
“They’re extremely receptive and at times, we’re competitors, we’re emotional. The game is a roller coaster of emotions, and a lot of times, you know, you may not want to hear that s—, but at the end of the day, we want our team to be better. We want them to be better as individuals, so they know everything that we’re saying to them is for their well-being.”
It takes more than just talent and potential to have longevity in the NBA. Choosing to offer wisdom and leadership is a transition many greats struggle with, but Jordan saw an opportunity with New Orleans to leave a piece of his legacy with each of his rookies and truly live up to the idea that the league is a brotherhood. He’s had a career others look up to, and by coaching up younger players, Jordan is contributing to the game beyond himself in ways both seen and unseen.
“At the end of the day, we’re all asking ourselves, or I try to ask myself, and I’m assuming DeAndre is asking himself, what are we doing all this for? What’s the bigger why in all of this?” Borrego said. “The players and the coaches that I’ve been around that have been able to impact beyond the core are the ones that are able to step back and go, what’s my purpose in all this?
“It’s to give back, to raise others up, to inspire, to grow the game, but to grow young people in basketball and outside basketball. To me, that’s what is the most rewarding piece of this profession, that we get to impact lives. To do that, you got to drop your ego and see the good in others, raise their level, raise their spirits, and have a level of care that is required to help others.”
Throughout his NBA career, Jordan has seen, heard and experienced a lot. He’s felt the high of being a key member of a team with championship aspirations and the low of a team not achieving it. And he’s experienced everything in between.
“When I came in, I was 19. I had older guys who poured into me and gave me a lot of advice and guidance,” Jordan said. “I feel like it’s only right for me to do the same thing for them and give them the knowledge that I was blessed with and given by my vets.
“That’s two generations’ worth of stuff I’ve learned. So then their job, in 15, 18 years, is to give that back to the next generation. And then they get better and better.”