ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Magic guard Trevelin Queen is no stranger to an extra workout: he does it after almost every practice.

What You Need To Know

  • Trevelin Queen won G-League MVP with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers

  • Queen scored a then career-high 17 points against the Boston Celtics in December

  • Trevelin Queen is a two-way player for the Orlando Magic

“I’ve always been smaller, scrawny, but I always wanted to play harder than everybody else,” Queen said as he explains his work ethic. “My parents never had to teach me to do that because I was naturally a competitor.”

All the hours in the dark came to the light on December 23, 2024.

In his first career start, Queen scored 17 points against the team he rooted for growing up, the Boston Celtics.

Queen says thinking about the night gives him chills.

“To have a career-high with two banked threes. You can’t tell me nothing! I’m stealing the ball from Derrick White, I’m just making a bunch of plays,” he said.

It's been a long journey for Queen to make it to an NBA floor.

He had no offers out of high school. Queen traveled almost 3,000 miles from Maryland to a community college in California, the College of Marin.

“Things that I've seen going through my journey and chasing my goals. I never want my kids, my brothers, sisters and family to see or go through whatever I've been through,” Queen said, recalling his time at Marin. “I took on that challenge. Whether I was homeless, or seeing shootouts, or not being able to eat, or playing or not playing, I always had a bigger purpose than myself.”

After Marin, Queen transferred to New Mexico Military Institute, then to New Mexico State.

But his NBA dream was still far away after going undrafted in 2020.

His next move would be to the NBA G-League.

“It felt normal to me because I’m a JUCO kid,” said Queen. “JUCO, you’re trying to get to the D1 level, the G-League, you’re trying to get to the NBA. It was a natural transition for me. I just knew I had to put in more work than people around me.”

Queen played for four different G-League teams, before finally finding his home in Osceola with the Magic in 2023.

No matter where it leads him, he’ll always be thankful for the journey.

“You never know where your last day of playing basketball is going to be. So, for me it’s having some since of joy and happiness with what I’m doing,” said Queen.

On Friday, Queen was leading scorer for the Magic against the Pacers, scoring a career-high 25 points.