Brown: Keon Ellis to open camp as the Kings’ starting SG

Oct 1, 2024, 11:02 AM

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 16: Keon Ellis #23 of the Sacramento Kings watches his shot against ...

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Lead Editor & Kings Beat Writer

On the heels of a head-turning finish to the 2023-24 season, Keon Ellis will enter training camp as the starting shooting guard for the Sacramento Kings.

While uncertainty surrounded the position for most of the offseason in light of Malik Monk’s decision to re-sign and Kevin Huerter’s ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery, Kings head coach Mike Brown sat down with Stiles & Watkins during Media Day to explain how he is handling the role.

Following Monk’s decision to re-sign with Sacramento on a four-year, $78 million deal in July, the Sixth Man of the Year runner-up from last season stated that he would like to start games this year, but understands why Brown would bring him off of the bench if that were to be the case.

Monk, a high-volume scorer and a now-developing playmaker (career-high 5.1 assists per game in 2023-24), is viewed by Brown as a “luxury” off of the bench to help weather stretches of play where starting guard De’Aaron Fox needs a breather.

During his conversation with Stiles & Watkins, Brown further explained why Monk will begin the season in his usual Sixth Man role.

“Well, right now, Kevin is not healthy all the way–and I’ve said this to the media earlier–having the luxury of a guy like Malik come off the bench, I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it with two of the best in Andre Iguodala and Manu Ginobili,” Brown said, who coached the former stars during his assistant coaching stints in Golden State and San Antonio, respectively.

“Manu came off of the bench behind a career 6.2 [points per game scorer] in Bruce Bowen, and there’s not a single person in the world that would say, ‘hey, I would rather have Bruce Bowen on my team than Manu Ginobili, even though Bruce started. Between [Iguodala and Ginobili], they won eight NBA championships. Seven were won when they were the Sixth Man.”

“With a guy like Malik, with a guy like Manu, with a guy like Andre, they can just tie things together. It’s a luxury. I feel like it’s a luxury we should take advantage of. So, right now, for me and the foreseeable future, that’s what Malik is going to do.”

While Monk has flourished in a Sixth Man role for Sacramento, the Kings struggled to find consistency from the starting shooting guard spot last season.

After posting career-highs across the board during his first season with Sacramento in 2022-23, Huerter went through multiple shooting slumps and suffered defensive lapses early last year, forcing Brown to start Chris Duarte over the sharpshooter for a limited stretch.

The Kings’ defense continued to act as a revolving door through the All-Star break, as Sacramento boasted a defensive rating of 116.4 on February 28th. Then, Brown made a change in the starting lineup that turned the tables.

Keon Ellis logged a start on March 1st, swiping four steals and handing out seven assists over just 18 minutes of action during an impressive Kings win in Minnesota.

Ellis’ performance pushed Brown to increase the undrafted guard’s minutes during the final stretch of the season, and once Huerter went down with a dislocated shoulder and torn labrum on March 18th, Ellis was handed the keys to the starting two-guard position for the remainder of the season.

Once Sacramento made the switch to Ellis, it changed to identity of the team’s defensive approach. With Ellis and Fox, the NBA’s steals and steals per game leader, handling the point of attack night in and night out, the Kings turned a corner following nearly two seasons of disappointing defensive effort.

During the final month of the season (16 games), Sacramento was ranked fourth in defensive rating (108.3) among all NBA teams, good enough to lift them into a top-14 finish for the entire 2024-25 season.

Ellis, an athletic on-and-off-ball defender, turned out to be an ideal complement to the Kings’ offense-heavy starting unit that includes Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and the two-way threat forward Keegan Murray–something that Brown could lean on even more this season with high-scoring wing DeMar DeRozan in the fold.

With Monk slotted in at the Sixth Man spot and Huerter continuing his rehab to begin training camp, Brown made it clear that the starting shooting guard spot will be Ellis’ to lose as action gets underway.

“Keon by default, is going to start there in training camp,” Brown said of the starting two position. “He’s going to be with the first unit. We’ll see what happens from there.”

Sacramento could have three impact defenders in the starting unit with Fox, Murray, and Ellis complimenting offense-first options in Sabonis and DeRozan, which could be an important aspect of this team’s high aspirations for 2024-25. Of course, Ellis isn’t a slouch on the offensive end either, as the Alabama product knocked down 41 percent of his three-point attempts last season (2.9 attempts per game).

Once Huerter is re-evaluated in two weeks, we could see a classic in-camp competition for the starting shooting guard position before the regular season opens up on October 24th, but it’s no secret that Ellis is in the driver’s seat after proving his worth during the final stretch of the 2023-24 season.

When is the next Sacramento Kings game?

The Kings will go through a week of practice and full-contact workouts before opening up the preseason portion of their 2024-25 schedule at home against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, October 9th.

Be sure to catch all of the action right here on Sactown Sports 1140 AM with Kings vs. Warriors set to tip off at 7:00 PM PDT.