{"id":209566,"date":"2025-10-08T17:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209566\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T17:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:12:10","slug":"sacramento-kings-guard-keon-ellis-working-to-continue-nba-ascent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209566\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis working to continue NBA ascent"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the next elevation for Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis<\/a> as he prepares for his fourth NBA season?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think doing what I do, but maybe even a little bit more efficient,\u201d Ellis said<\/a>, \u201cand showing maybe parts of my game that others probably haven\u2019t seen or know that I could do. But I think whatever the game calls for, so, you know, that changes night to night. But, yeah, I think just showing those things and being ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

An undrafted player in 2022 after two seasons at Alabama<\/a>, Ellis signed with the Kings and spent most of his rookie season with the Stockton Kings, Sacramento\u2019s NBA Gatorade League affiliate. He played 71 minutes in the NBA in the 2022-23 campaign.<\/p>\n

In this second season, Ellis didn\u2019t play a game for Stockton even though he began the campaign playing on a two-way contract, which allowed Sacramento to move him back and forth between the NBA and the G League.<\/p>\n

Ellis averaged 5.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 57 games in the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, Ellis played in every game for the Kings but two and started 28. His playing time went from an average went from an average of 17.2 minutes per game in 2023-24 to 24.4 last season. <\/p>\n

In his third NBA season, Ellis averaged 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 80 games. Ellis ranked eighth in the NBA in 3-point shooting rate at 43.3 percent and had almost twice as any steals as any other Sacramento player with 121.<\/p>\n

During the offseason, Ellis said<\/a>, he worked on \u201cmy shooting off the dribble just because, I mean \u201acatch-and-shoot, that\u2019s, like, not a problem. So I think now, like, in transition or if I come off a screen, like, you know most nights I probably have, like, the other team\u2019s (offensive) star on me, so being like a real threat and making them not have, like, a possession off, if you will. I think that could be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Ellis\u2019 rookie season, Sacramento\u2019s Beam Team broke the longest playoff drought in NBA history with a postseason trip after 16 seasons without one. The Kings have won 86 games over the past two seasons, but they haven\u2019t gotten past the play-in portion of the NBA\u2019s postseason.<\/p>\n

Behind former All-Stars DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento is seeking another breakthrough in the NBA West in coach Doug Christie\u2019s first full season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re expecting to win as a team,\u201d Ellis said<\/a>. \u201cAnd I think me personally, just to go out there and be Keon Ellis. I mean, the same person who I\u2019ve always been. But, I mean, I think year after year more things are expected of you, so just just looking to go out there and do that\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kings tip off their four-game preseason schedule against the Toronto Raptors at 9 p.m. CDT at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.<\/p>\n

Ellis is expected to serve as depth for LaVine and point guard Malik Monk in the backcourt and DeRozan at small forward.<\/p>\n

The Kings kept Ellis for a fourth season by picking up their team option <\/a>on his contract. By bringing back Ellis for $2.302 million for the 2025-26 season, Sacramento has what is considered one of the biggest bargains in the NBA. But the 375th highest-paid player<\/a> in the league will be in line to become a free agent after this season. <\/p>\n

Ellis said he didn\u2019t expect that to affect him much this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really haven\u2019t thought about it much,\u201d Ellis said<\/a>, \u201cbecause, I mean, technically last year kind of was a little bit as well. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019ll really change too much of what I do. I think my role will still be the same, the way I play it\u2019ll pretty much still be the same, too. So pretty sure looking forward to everything being pretty much the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the next elevation for Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis as he prepares for his fourth NBA season?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[30497,355,1063,119961,99,3015],"class_list":["post-209566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-mens-basketball","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-sacramento-kings-media-day","tag-sports","tag-sports-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}