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Pelicans exercise options on former 1st-round picks Missi, Fears and Queen

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Cite

The Associated Press. (2026, October 21). Pelicans exercise options on former 1st-round picks Missi, Fears and Queen. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/basketball/pelicans-exercise-options-on-former-1st-round-picks-missi-fears-and-queen/article_18116214-b8d1-5bf9-9cd2-0ffddea24d58.html

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Toronto Star · collected 2026-10-21 · by The Associated Press

Quick Summary

The New Orleans Pelicans have exercised fourth-year contract options on three players: center Yves Missi, guard Jeremiah Fears, and forward Derik Queen. Missi was drafted 21st overall in 2024, while Fears and Queen were selected seventh and 13th respectively in the 2025 draft. All three players had strong rookie seasons; Missi averaged 7.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, Fears scored 14.3 points with 3.7 assists, and Queen contributed 11.7 points along with 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists.
Written by AI on 2026-10-21, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The New Orleans Pelicans exercised fourth-year options on three players: center Yves Missi and guards Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. This move, announced on Tuesday, was anticipated given Missi's projection as the starting center for the upcoming season and the rookie success of both Fears and Queen under Joe Dumars' leadership. Drafted 21st overall out of Baylor in 2024, Missi has averaged 7.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks over his first two seasons. Meanwhile, Fears, drafted seventh overall from Oklahoma in 2025, earned All-Rookie second team honors with averages of 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game as a rookie. Queen, selected 13th overall from Maryland the same year, also received All-Rookie second team recognition for his contributions.

Written for “Pelicans Player Options Exercised” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Pelicans Player Options Exercised
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
11
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 11 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-21 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 11028 article(s) · 28 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 28 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Correction
2026-10-24
Correction
2026-10-07
Correction
2026-09-24
Correction

Who wrote this

The Associated Press
1734 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 1734 articles by The Associated Press →

Topics

Baylor NBA NEW ORLEANS Oklahoma The New Orleans Pelicans

Subjects

Fears PERSON · 3× Queen ORG · 3× Missi PERSON · 2× NBA ORG · 2× Derik Queen PERSON · 1× Jeremiah Fears PERSON · 1× Joe Dumars PERSON · 1× NEW ORLEANS GPE · 1× The New Orleans Pelicans ORG · 1× Yves Missi PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The moves, announced Tuesday, were expected as Missi is the club’s projected starting center this season, while both Fears and Queen produced while receiving ample playing time as rookies in the team’s first season with Joe Dumars serving as executive vice president of basketball operations.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-21
🔮 The moves, announced Tuesday, were expected as Missi is the club’s projected starting center this season, while both Fears and Queen produced while receiving ample playing time as rookies in the team’s first season with Joe Dumars serving as executive vice president of basketball operations.
2026-10-21 · Toronto Star
Pelicans exercise options on former 1st-round picks Missi, Fears and Queen · assertive framing

Claims (11 extracted, 0 hedged)

The New Orleans Pelicans have exercised a fourth-year option on third-year center Yves Missi, as well as third-year options on both of their 2025 first-round draft picks: guard Jeremiah Fears and forward Derik Queen. asserted
Pelicans → exercise → picks
The moves, announced Tuesday, were expected as Missi is the club’s projected starting center this season, while both Fears and Queen produced while receiving ample playing time as rookies in the team’s first season with Joe Dumars serving as executive vice president of basketball operations. asserted
Dumars → announce → operations
Missi, drafted 21st overall out of Baylor in the 2024, has appeared in 139 games with 81 starts, averaging 7.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 23.4 minutes per game. asserted
Missi → draft → game
He has 19 career double-doubles. asserted
He → have → doubles
Fears, drafted seventh overall out of Oklahoma in 2025, played in all 82 games games as a rookie with 49 starts. asserted
Fears → draft → starts
Named to the NBA’s All-Rookie second team, Fears scored in double-figures 59 times, including 17 games with 20 or more points. asserted
Fears → name → points
He finished the season with averages of 14.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 25.8 minutes per game. asserted
He → finish → game
Queen, drafted 13th overall out of Maryland in 2025, also was named NBA All-Rookie second team last season after averaging 11.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 81 games. asserted
Queen → draft → games
He started 48 games and played about 25 minutes per game. asserted
He → start → game
Queen recorded two triple doubles last season, the only rookie with more than one. asserted
Queen → record → one
The Pelicans open the regular season Wednesday night at home against the Indiana Pacers. asserted
Pelicans → open → Pacers
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