Keon Ellis makes his case to move into Kings' starting lineup

Welcome to The Kings Beat! With the regular season in full swing, it’s a great time to jump on board with a premium subscription so you get all the latest delivered directly to your inbox. Also, for more Kings content, join Kyle Madson and myself Monday-Friday from 10-noon for The Insiders on ESPN 1320!

The job of every NBA general manager is to turn over every stone looking for hidden gems. Assessing prospects and making judgements on who they might become at the next level is extremely difficult, but every once in a while, you can strike gold, be it in the lottery, in the second round or even in the undrafted free agent market.

It appears that Kings GM Monte McNair may have done just that when he signed Keon Ellis as an undrafted player on draft night, 2022. 

Measuring in at 6-foot-3.5 and 167 pounds at the combine, Ellis tumbled on draft night. Scheduled to go in the mid-second round, he was available on the open market and the Kings pounced, investing one of their two-way contracts on the wing out of Alabama. 

A year and a half later, Ellis has not only had his contract converted to a standard NBA deal, but he is in Mike Brown’s rotation and thriving as a defensive catalyst. Ellis took some lumps Saturday against the Knicks, but his performances earlier in the week against Damian Lillard of the Bucks and D’Angelo Russell of the Lakers turned heads. 

Ellis’ offensive stats don’t jump off the page, but his defensive metrics are stellar and his energy is contagious. The Kings are 6-0 when the 24-year-old starts this season and there are plenty of fans clamoring for him to move into the starting lineup on a permanent basis. 

Before the Kings hosted New York on Saturday, we had time to catch up with Ellis from the Kings locker room. Here is the transcript from that conversation:

JH: How much are you enjoying this ride here, not just making the team and staying up here the whole time, but getting the contract and now here you are playing meaningful minutes down the stretch?

Ellis: It’s a good thing. I try not to make it more than it is, so that way I’m not, I don’t know, I don’t know how to explain it, I just try to keep it simple. Obviously, there’s been a lot of great things to happen this season, as far as the contract and me playing, and whatever else. It’s definitely been good, so I’m just happy to be here and it’s a blessing, for real.

JH: One of the cool things about your journey to get to this point is that you don’t have to be someone that you’re not. The Kings are asking you to be who you were in high school, definitely in college and definitely at the G League level. How much does that help you to just play the role that you know?

Ellis: It makes it real easy. Like you just said, I’m not asked to do X, Y, Z that I’m not capable of, so I just go out there and do the things that I can do for this team to try to help us win. That just doesn’t over complicate anything. I just go out there and do what I do and that’s what has kind of led me to being successful this far. So, just not trying to make anything harder on myself than it has to be. 

JH: When you hear these things, like, the team is 6-0 when you start, do you just kinda brush it off?

Ellis: I mean, yeah, it’s not really…obviously, it’s a good thing. But, I don’t know. I hear it, but it’s like, there’s just more basketball to be played, so I don’t get too deep into those things. I just try to focus on the next game and just try to lock in for every game, for real. So the record will be whatever it is if I’m as locked in as I can be. I just kinda let it figure itself out, for real. 

JH: I see you fight through screens and I know Mike (Brown) has compared you to the way that Bruce Bowen fought through screens. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched Bruce Bowen play, he’s a little before your time, but how much of that is just effort and energy or is it technique? What is it that makes you so good at that?

Ellis: I think it’s a little bit of both of that and then there is just some will in there. I take a little bit of pride in playing defense, trying to get stops on guys. And then that kinda helps me with my game to get going on the offensive end. So definitely, there is a little bit of skill in it, a little bit of luck in it too, but it’s definitely something that I take pride in when on the defensive end, trying to get a stop, just to make things tougher on the guys that are their main guys. 

JH: How cool is it…the road map that you’ve kind of laid out here for players…that you don’t need to be drafted. You can fight and get a two-way contract. You can make an impression in training camp and in G League opportunities and then make it into the league?

Ellis: It’s big. I think everyone wants to get drafted, obviously, as high as possible, me as well. I was thinking that my name would get called that night and it didn’t, but it wasn’t the end of the road for me. I think a lot of people know that everyone has different paths, and this is my path. So it doesn’t mean that you’re any less of a basketball player than whoever was drafted before you. Teams want what they want and sometimes it might be the right choice or the wrong choice, but you can’t really worry about that. You’ve got to kinda go out and handle your business and just make sure everything is taken care of on your end, so that way when you get that opportunity, you kinda make them wish that they would have taken you, or however you want to get motivated about it. 

JH: What is it like playing alongside De’Aaron (Fox) and kind of taking the pressure off of him on the defensive side of the ball?

Ellis: It’s great. I got a lot of reps in at the one (point guard) spot this year, while he was hurt and got some backup minutes. In some lineups, I’m out there with him. I was kinda playing out of position a little bit. I got more comfortable, but he’s a true one. So it definitely allows me to just float around the perimeter and just kinda play my more natural game and do whatever I need to do and be in the right spots. And on the defensive end, just worry about trying to get stops and find him or Domas (Domantas Sabonis). It’s definitely just great to be out there with those guys — two All-Stars.  

More on Ellis…

The rise of Ellis has a lot of layers. The path ahead does as well.

Brown is facing a difficult decision. As mentioned above, the Kings are 6-0 when Ellis starts at either the point or shooting guard positions. But those starts have come over a 66 game schedule, including two starts in November, one start in December and three in March over two stretches.

The victories this week over the Bucks and Lakers may have identified one of the reasons to give Ellis a longer look with the starters. In the win over the Bucks, Keegan Murray sat out and both Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes got off to fast starts in the game. Against the Lakers, Murray returned, but Huerter sat with a leg contusion and Barnes and Murray both had solid outings.

It is possible that starting five offensive players isn’t the best balance for the Kings overall. Ellis’ defense first mentality is refreshing, but his presence also allows additional shot opportunities for players like Huerter, Barnes and Murray, depending on who is starting.

Brown has to manage egos and make sure the team isn’t leaving anyone behind, but inserting Ellis into the starting lineup may solve multiple issues that the club has faced all season long, especially on the defensive end.

Adding to this puzzle is the injury to power forward Trey Lyles. With Lyles out a few weeks due to an MCL sprain, the Kings lack a secondary scorer to pair with Malik Monk in the second unit.

While no one appears to be raising their hand and volunteering to move to the bench, there could come a time when Brown has to make that decision for the group, especially if Ellis keeps earning more minutes.

This is a complex puzzle and with 16 games remaining, Brown is running out of time to tinker. He needs to put his best combination of players on the floor as soon as possible with the hopes of not only securing a playoff spot, but also with the hopes of making some noise if the Kings do make it to the postseason.