With one game in the books, it is clear that the Sacramento Kings have a lot to figure out. While Domantas Sabonis returns from injury for their home opener against the Utah Jazz, Nique Clifford is now out for at least a week, and Keegan Murray remains sidelined for at least another month, as well.
With so many key players in flux, coach Doug Christie has his work cut out for him as he works to find rotations and lineup combinations that work. Even when healthy, the roster is clearly far from perfect. Immediately having to weather key injuries to that imperfect roster is nightmare fuel for a first-time head coach.
Lost in this shuffle was Keon Ellis, who played just 13 minutes in the opener against Phoenix. Put kindly, this is a puzzling decision for a team that, according to their coach, needs to pick up the defensive intensity.
“Scoring the basketball, we can obviously do that. But defense is where everything is going to happen at.”
Doug Christie expects the Kings to improve defensively moving forward pic.twitter.com/o44auIj6O8
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) October 23, 2025
Christie acknowledged the team’s backcourt logjam, describing Ellis as a consummate professional who is always ready to play. “But with his ability to knock down shots, and his defensive ability,” Christie said, “he’s going to be on the floor.”
Great quote, but actions (playing your best defender more than 13 minutes when you cite defense as a need) speak louder than words.
Matt George attempted to explain the organization’s rationale with Ellis. George’s impression is that they believe Ellis is “more replaceable than people are making him out to be…If they were to lose him in free agency, they can find a replacement for him… There are players like Keon Ellis out there. If Keon Ellis were 6-foot-7, this would be a different conversation, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and they would have paid him already, because those are the type of players that every team wants.”
“I’m under a pretty significant impression that the belief amongst the Sacramento Kings organization is that Keon Ellis is more replaceable than people are making him out to be.” – @MattGeorgeSAC pic.twitter.com/WA5SvSPF7x
— ESPN 1320 Sacramento (@ESPN1320) October 23, 2025
First, the notion that Sacramento would have paid Ellis already if he were a couple of inches taller is questionable at best. That would have all but ruled out signing Dennis Schroder, which the front office mentioned was directly linked to the flexibility preserved by exercising Ellis’s TO.
In fairness, Kings fans probably do overrate Ellis a bit. It is hard not to – he embodies the earned-not-given, defense-first mindset that fans have long clamored for and that Christie purportedly wants his team to bring to the court.
So, has the perception of Ellis actually gone too far?
No, no it has not. I would argue the opposite. It is hard to overstate how impactful Ellis was last season. Here are some figures to help illustrate his impact:
BBall-Index
BBall-Index
As you can see, Ellis finds himself in a unique position where his defensive impact was near All-Defensive level players, and his shooting talent is up there with marksmen Lauri Markkanen and Trey Murphy. Notably, Ellis finds himself well above Lu Dort, one of the better low usage three-and-D wings in the league.
There are obviously players who can do what Keon does. He is not the single best shooter in the league, and will not win a DPOY. However, for a team starved for off-ball shooting and perimeter defense, believing a player who does both of those things at an elite level is replaceable is, put kindly, irresponsible.
Ellis ranked 15th in Basketball Index’s Perimeter Isolation Defense. Here is a look at the top 20 players last season, and their usage rates and 3 Point Shooting Talent (minimum 1,500 minutes played):
James McCauley
Very good company here. All are key rotation players, and less than half of the list have changed teams in their careers. Of those that changed teams, Dyson Daniels was traded (with picks) to acquire All-Star guard Dejounte Murray. Dorian Finney-Smith has been traded as a positive asset twice, and Wiggins has been a key piece on a championship team. Kris Dunn was traded by the Timberwolves in the package that landed Jimmy Butler.
Players with this profile get paid, too. Just this summer: Daniels signed a 4/$100M rookie extension; Toumani Camara signed a 4/$81 extension (very similar to what Ellis should expect if properly used), Mitchell signed the aforementioned 2/$24M RFA contract, Finney-Smith signed a 4/$54M contract, Murray signed a 5/$140 extension, Braun signed a 5/$125M extension, and Vanvleet signed a 2/$50M contract.
Of that smaller group, former King (of course) Davion Mitchell is the only one traded in a pseudo-salary dump. Mitchell has since carved out a nice role with the Miami Heat, signing a two-year, $24M contract this summer.
Even if Sacramento could sign an elite backcourt defender to “replace” Ellis, it is incredibly doubtful they will shoot the ball like Ellis. The recent example of signing a lockdown defender would be the Clippers signing Kris Dunn, a non-shooter. Ellis, on the other hand, is an elite shooter and defender.
If you think he is replaceable, here is a look at the upcoming free agents who could theoretically replace Ellis:
James McCauley
Not many players that bring low usage, elite shooting, and elite defense will come to Sacramento at a reasonable price, like what the Kings can extend Keon to in February. Many options are noticeably older, too.
So, saying you could approximate Ellis’s talents is probably the better framing if it is truly the way the front office wants to go, because a one-to-one replacement is clearly not out there.
Even if Sacramento is correct in deeming Ellis replaceable (they are not), the mechanics of actually replacing him are an entirely different question. There will be more cap space next summer, so Sacramento offering the NTMLE (which they likely would have) is not as meaningful as it was this offseason.
That is a conversation for another day, though. For now, as Hoop Venue said last season, “this is the type of complementary player every team dreams of.” Not with a couple extra inches, but how he is right now.
Let’s hope Ellis gets the chance to prove how essential he is on Friday night against the Jazz.