Kings postseason push buoyed by play of Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis

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It’s a process. Not “The Process,” but a process nonetheless. 

Developing young talent isn’t easy. There are ups and downs and no assurances that a player, even one taken in the top five of the NBA Draft, will ever reach their maximum potential.

The Sacramento Kings had a big moment with two of their young prospects in Tuesday night’s Play-In win over the Golden State Warriors. Keegan Murray, who earned NBA All-Rookie honors last season and has started 155 games in his first two seasons, looked confident from the opening tip while hunting and hitting his shot. 

“We’ve played them ten times in the last, whatever amount of times, and I just knew kinda what my spots are going to be, going into the game,” Murray said. “So, stayed aggressive and just capitalized on that.”

Not to be outdone, Keon Ellis stepped up for the Kings, posting 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks. He put on a defensive clinic against NBA legend Stephen Curry and filled up the stat sheet in the Kings’ victory.

With starting shooting guards Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter out of action, Murray and Ellis are the next men up. Also, with Monk being a leader in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race, there has been an increased pressure on both Murray and Ellis to take on more of the load. In the most critical game of the season, they both answered the call in their own way. 

Murray’s arrival is more about an increase in offensive opportunities than anything else. Coming out of Iowa he was known as a polished offensive player with a high ceiling. His ascension to primary scoring option has come with some hiccups in year two, but the outline is still there. He is developing as a playmaker and three level scorer, although the process hasn’t been linear. 

“He actually changed his game a lot from college to the pros,” De’Aaron Fox said of Murray. “Last year, obviously being just more of a shooter, a movement shooter. But he worked on his game a ton. We played a lot of one-on-one. He got a lot more comfortable dribbling the ball and creating his own shot, coming off DHOs and things like.”

In the final 10 games of the season, Murray saw his field goal attempts jump from 12.2 per game to 15.5. His scoring numbers have climbed from 14.9 to 17.2 per game over that timeframe, but no one could have predicted the 32 point outburst against the Warriors on Tuesday.

“Fox and Domas [Domantas Sabonis] did what they were supposed to do, but Keegan -- the lights were as bright as they could be, and he stepped up and he delivered,” Kings head coach Mike Brown said following the win. 

This is just the fifth time in his early career that Murray has crested the 30 point mark, although Play-In stats don’t really count. The fact that he accomplished the feat in a postseason setting with the bright lights of TNT and a national television audience, is a new step in Murray’s career. 

Sacramento has lofty expectations for Murray and this is just another step in who they believe will have an All-Star caliber career. The confidence he showed on a huge stage has been two years in the making, with both his teammates and coaches pushing the 23-year-old to step out of his comfort zone and into stardom. 

“We tell Keegan not to smile, because every time he smiles, he misses,” Fox added. “We want him to go out there, we want him to be aggressive. He stayed aggressive from the jump. That’s always going to be good for us.” 

The talent is there, but Murray is a player who needs to be pushed. He is growing in this aspect and taking on more. The performance against Golden State just shows the potential he possesses, especially if he stays aggressive.

“He’s a young guy, at times, even for his teammates, it can be a little frustrating, but you know, he can end up being great with that stuff,” Brown said. “You’ve got to keep giving him the freedom and the confidence to do it. And his teammates have backed him all year and we’ve backed him all year. And it’s just a matter of time in my opinion, before all of those shots that he's taking and moves he’s making, from all three levels become second hand to him. It’s a lot of fun to watch his growth, on both ends of the floor.”

Ellis didn’t have the luxury of going No. 4 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, like Murray did. He waited all night to hear his name called, only to never get a call. He signed with the Kings on a two-way contract on draft night and then spent most of his rookie season last year at the G League level in Stockton.

Buried on the depth chart to open the 2023-24 campaign, Ellis continued to make an impression when given an opportunity. During an early November contest against the Houston Rockets, Ellis got the call late in a blow out loss. He responded by scoring 15 points in 14 minutes and playing the game the right way. 

“He just started doing things that were kinda interesting,” Brown said. “The two games that we got blown out in Houston, just throwing him out there and seeing how he impacted the game, how he navigates screens, like, he navigates screens like a veteran. He’s hard to screen in the pick-and-roll.”

Brown likes to reward players who give maximum effort, regardless of the scoreboard. Ellis started the next two games with De’Aaron Fox out of action, with the team winning both. He was in the rotation for six straight games, which coincided with six straight wins. 

Ellis battled his way back into the rotation in December, but once again moved to the bench in January and early February. Leading into the All-Star break, Ellis was more of an afterthought in Sacramento, although he had made enough of an impression for the team to upgrade his contract to a standard deal on February 9. 

Brown doesn’t really know how to put it into perspective, but he compared Ellis to San Antonio Spurs legend, Bruce Bowen earlier in the season and then the character Neo, from the Matrix movie franchise following the win over Golden State. 

“Keon is just so…slinky…if that’s a word,” Brown said.

Kings general manager Monte McNair inked Ellis to a three-year minimum scale contract worth just over $5 million. Sacramento owns a team option on the Alabama product at just $2.3 million for the 2025-26 season, after which he becomes a restricted free agent.

“You saw signs of it early, but man, there is no way that I could tell you that he’d be in the position he’s in right now, but everytime we give him an opportunity, he just keeps getting better and better and better,” Brown said. 

When Huerter went down for the season, Ellis stepped into the starting lineup alongside Fox and he has given the Kings’ defense a new wrinkle. In an audition of sorts, Ellis has gone from a fringe rotation player to a potential starter moving forward. In the final 15 games of the season, he averaged 9.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals in 27 minutes per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 44.6 percent from three.

“I think, since they’ve been out, having someone like Keon step into the starting lineup and being able to guard the best guys in the league, he’s doing a great job on guys as well, it definitely helps us as a whole,” Fox said.

Ellis is a willing shooter and someone who continues to show more of his game as he becomes comfortable in his role. While the offensive boost has been a surprise, the defensive end is where Ellis makes his paycheck. In the final 15 games, the Kings posted a 108.8 defensive rating with Ellis starting at the two, which was good enough for sixth overall in the league during that span. In the first 67 games, the Kings ran a defensive rating of 115.6. 

An argument about sample size could be made, but nearly every time Ellis stepped on the court this season, he made an impact and his contract makes him extremely valuable moving forward. 

Murray and Ellis didn’t just combine to score 47 points against the Warriors, but it was this tandem that was asked to slow down future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry. Murray used his wingspan and lateral quickness to limit Curry. Ellis used his length and athleticism to get under the superstar’s skin. 

In a game with huge implications, Curry was held to just 8-for-16 from the field for 22 points. That wasn’t nearly enough to keep the Warriors in the contest and it was a far cry from the 50 he scored in Golden State’s Game 7 win over the Kings in Round 1 last postseason. 

Brown has been searching for a defensive identity for the last two seasons and these two young players are giving their coach some hope for the future. Murray came into the year as a foundational piece, alongside Fox and Domantas Sabonis. Ellis has some work to do before he enters that conversation, but his versatility and defensive prowess is giving the team the jolt they need. 

Whether that’s enough to get the Kings into the playoffs or through a first round series, we don’t know quite yet, but Sacramento is developing talent; both top tier picks and undrafted individuals. You need to hit in the lottery, but sometimes finding a diamond in the rough can mean just as much to a franchise. If you can do both, there is potential for something special. 

Murray is making his case to be the second offensive option next season. Ellis is staking his claim to the starting shooting guard position. This is why you want your team to play meaningful games late in a season. The Kings are playing for something as a group, but they are also showing that, win or lose, these moments are important for the development of individuals and that can have a long term impact on the franchise. 

What’s next?

After their stunning victory over the Warriors on Tuesday, the Kings are set to take on the New Orleans Pelicans Friday at 6:30 PM PST at Smoothie King Center. Like Game 1 against Golden State, this is a win or go home proposition. 

New Orleans will be without star big man Zion Williamson, who injured his left hamstring in the team’s loss to the Lakers on Tuesday. The Kings will be without both Huerter and Monk. 

If Sacramento finds a way to beat New Orleans, after going 0-5 during the regular season against the Pelicans, they will advance to the first round of the Playoffs where the Oklahoma City Thunder are waiting as the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference. Game 1 of a first round series begins Sunday at Paycom Center.