Maryland Terrapins center Derik Queen (25) shoots the basketball during NCAA Tournament West Regional practice at Chase Center. Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Maryland star Derik Queen signs the perfect NIL deal

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Mar 27, 2025 5:39 PM ET

Some things in life just make sense and that has been the beauty of the NIL space in college athletics. When there's a fit and a player can make money while a company can capitalize on their name, image and likeness ... things just seem to come together.

That has certainly been the case for Maryland basketball center Derik Queen, who became a hero for the Terrapins in March Madness for hitting a game-winning shot to send them to the Sweet 16.

DERIK QUEEN FTW

OH MY GOODNESS #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/06QRH6eK3R
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 24, 2025

Queen cashed in on that shot and now he's cashing in on a ton of money via a NIL deal with Dairy Queen that just makes too much sense.

One of the ads looks like this:

#ad Thanks to the original DQ for all the love and support. Go Terps! Go @dairyqueen #happytastesgood pic.twitter.com/DI3gM6Hmsw
— derik queen (@derikqueen1) March 27, 2025

Queen looks like a natural star in the ad, and the Terrapins will need him to be a star once again on Thursday. No. 4-seed Maryland are facing No. 1-seeded Florida from Chase Center in San Francisco on Thursday.

Queen averaged 16.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game for the Terps in the regular season and has averaged 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds through two March Madness games.

According to On3, he has a NIL valuation of $863K and he's already signed deals with TurboTax, Stanley and DoorDash.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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