- Programming Note: Watch Keon Ellis' "Kings Central" interview with Morgan Ragan at 8 p.m. PT on NBC Sports California following "Kings Postgame Live."
Keon Ellis has proven his NBA journey is more than a feel-good story now as an impact player on the Kings, but it took him halfway through his rookie season to truly understand that.
Ellis was inactive for 36 games and registered 10 DNPs (Did Not Play) before getting his first real NBA minutes nearly two years ago. The young guard was tossed into the game in the third quarter as the Kings were down 33 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Feb. 5, 2023.
That is when he fully grasped the kind of impact he could have in Sacramento, as he detailed to NBC Sports California's Morgan Ragan on "Kings Central."
"I would say my first year, we were playing in New Orleans and we were getting killed," Ellis told Ragan. "I came in and I think it was my first time playing real minutes. When I got subbed in, it was the third quarter, I played like 16 minutes straight. I think I had my career-high at that point, and as I'm out there, I'm scoring, I'm getting more comfortable and I'm like, 'OK, this is alright. It's not so bad.' But I'm dog tired.
"And Mike [Brown] was like, 'Ke, you need a sub?' I'm bent over. I'm kind of cramping. I'm kind of new, so I'm like, I don't know when I'll get back in. So I'm like, 'Nah, I'm good. I'm good.' And then after that, I kept going out there. Kept making the right plays. Steals, deflections, scoring or whatever. After that one, it kind of hit me, that feeling like, 'I did all right out there.' It gives you that confidence like, 'I can do this.' "
Since then, he has proven just that.
U.S. & World
Ellis' hard work and self-belief has paid off, rising from an undrafted free agent to the G League to a two-way player to a significant piece in Sacramento's rotation.
He has gone from averaging 4.4 minutes his rookie year to 17.2 in his sophomore season to 21.4 through 42 games during the 2024-25 campaign, where he's averaging 7.6 points on 48.8-percent shooting from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point range, with 2.4 rebounds, 13 assists and 1.4 steals.
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Ellis' path to the league or onto the court for the Kings might not have been the most traditional, but he made the most of his opportunity, and it's clear the sky is the limit for the 25-year-old.
