SACRAMENTO – About eight hours before tip-off against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, Keon Ellis was asked about players stepping up to fill the void left by several injured Kings.
"That's just room for anyone to come in and step up and show what they can do,” Ellis said after Kings shootaround Monday morning. “So with guys out, I mean, we're a team for a reason. One guy goes down, it's next man up."
Little did he – or the rest of the world – know, that would be him.
Ellis went from an undrafted two-way player to an impact starter for Sacramento last season after turning heads with his defense and locking down big-name superstars like Steph Curry.
He always has been efficient from 3-point range, shooting nearly 44 percent from beyond the arc during his time with Sacramento’s G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. But playing alongside players such as De’Aaron Fox and DeMar DeRozan, who demand the ball so much, and shooters such as Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray, Ellis always has been of the mindset to never “do too much” and play his role of whatever the team asks and needs of him.
On Monday night, with DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk all out due to injuries, the Kings needed Ellis to be aggressive on the offensive end of the floor. He rose to the challenge.
“Heck of a job by Keon,” Kings coach Mike Brown said after Sacramento’s down-to-the-wire 109-108 loss to Atlanta. “We've been on him about if you're open, to let that thing go. And tonight, he let it go. He's a good shooter.
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“He shot [44 percent] from the 3 when he was in the G League. Last year, he was around 40. So we know he could shoot the basketball. And it was great to see him step into it and let it fly tonight.”
Ellis let it fly six times without a miss before finally watching one 3-ball rim out midway through the second quarter. He was 6 of 8 from beyond the arc by halftime.
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Three minutes and 32 seconds after checking into the third quarter, he surpassed his career-high in points after knocking down three more triples. His previous high was 26 against the Oklahoma City Thunder late last season.
Have yourself a career night, Keon 😲
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 19, 2024
27 PTS
9 3PT
pic.twitter.com/1an42EZ9qv
Over the course of his heater, several of Ellis' teammates such as Monk and Trey Lyles were seen on the NBC Sports California game broadcast with great reactions to his 3-point flurries.
Ellis revealed after the game what his teammates and coaches were telling him in the midst of it all.
"Guys just kept saying let it fly. Same with the coaches," he said. "I think Kevin told me during one timeout, 'That's the way you have to hunt shots and kind of step into it, just let it fly. Don't really think about. If you're feeling it, especially at the point when you're feeling it a little bit, just continue to try to hunt shots.' Everybody just kept saying keep shooting it. Keep shooting it.
"So I think everyone kind of knew that I was on fire. So they just didn't want me to hit three threes or whatnot and then try to go out there and pump fake the next one and try to play-make or whatever. They just wanted me to go out and try to be aggressive still."
Ellis finished with 33 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 9 of 15 from beyond the arc, with six rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 33 minutes off the bench. He tied Doug McDermott for a team-high plus-15 in plus/minus rating.
“It was great,” Fox said postgame of Ellis’ performance. “I mean, even just looking over the course of his career, he's a 40-percent 3-point shooter. I don't think people were giving him the credit that he deserves. I think if we start winning at a high level, then I think guys, or I guess national people, will start to see it.
“But the way he shot the ball tonight was definitely incredible for us and kept us in the game. He had big moments for us, even getting to the [free-throw] line down the stretch. He was big for us today.”
The 24-year-old entered Monday’s contest averaging 5.3 points while shooting 34.4 percent from 3-point range on 2.5 attempts per game this season.
Sacramento wants, and often times needs, Ellis to attempt more threes than he has -- especially when he's open. But he's passed on several opportunities in previous games, leading to missed opportunities and some frustrating turnovers.
To him, though, he says he's always more focused on making the right play over looking for his shot. After Monday's performance, he finally realized that maybe sometimes the right play is him shooting the ball.
"Probably a little bit of always trying to make the right right play," Ellis said of his hesitance to shoot this season. "Sometimes the right play is just for you to just step in and shoot it, even if there is a guy open on the one-more [pass]. Especially with the start we had, just trying to come out there and every opportunity I have to try to make the aggressive play, instead of always trying to make the one-more or whatever it is. But still trying to play the right way."
The Kings don't need Ellis to drop 30-plus every night, especially after they get their reinforcements back in DeRozan, Sabonis and Monk.
But his offensive aggressiveness can be just as impactful as his defensive aggressiveness moving forward for Sacramento, even when its Big Three is back intact.
"When everyone comes back, we know what type of talent we have on this team," Ellis said. "So I think if you add in half the shots that I made tonight, when everyone comes back, I think that just takes us to a whole other level as a team. So just trying to keep that aggression and try to get in where I can."
Ellis is one of the more reserved, even-keeled players on the team.
Even after having his two-way contract converted to a standard NBA contract late last season, he stayed level-headed and laser focused on trying to help the Kings keep their playoff hopes alive.
His response after Monday's career performance? Giving credit to his teammates for helping make it all happen.
"I think that just goes to the talent we have on the floor," Ellis said. "You're kind of going to force the role players to beat you. So if I make a couple 3s, I'm pretty sure [the Hawks] will adjust a little bit. But I'm not like a Fox-type of player, where the teams would just double me or try to blitz me or anything.
"They're going to continue to try to see if I can keep it going. So I think Fox is still applying pressure where they have to really focus on him, and he's creating the open looks. We still have other guys that you have to pay attention to. And then the shots just come where they come from within the flow of the game. So I think that's just how that ends up happening most of the time."
He's not wrong, but the humble reply perfectly embodied the player and person Ellis is.
And that's why Brown, walking out of his postgame press conference not pleased with the loss his team just endured, gave one final shoutout to the young guard.
"What Keon did was awesome," Brown expressed as he walked out of the press room, making sure a disappointing loss doesn't overshadow the impressive performance.
