Keon Ellis's tenure with the Sacramento Kings was not exactly spectacular, due in no small part to how the team used him. While his game has improved with the Cavaliers, he's still working on finding a rhythm with the team. Unlike the Kings, Cleveland seems willing to put the work in to find it.
After going undrafted in 2022, the Kings picked up Ellis on a two-way contract. He spent the first couple of seasons playing for both the Sacramento and Stockton teams before becoming a full-fledged member of the NBA roster. Ellis continued with the Kings until his trade in February 2026.
Ellis always showed a lot of potential on the Kings' roster as a legit 3&D threat. The man could score and was an absolute menace on defense. The problem was consistency, both in the minutes he was getting and what he did on the court with the minutes he did get.
The Kings haven't exactly been great at developing young players, something that seems to be changing under Doug Christie and Scott Perry. For some reason, Christie didn't seem interested in working with Ellis, so the trade was important for both sides of the equation.
Ellis is finally getting a chance on the Cavs
So far, Cleveland seems to be more interested in working with Ellis than Sacramento was. With the Kings, he was averaging around 18 minutes per game in 2025-2026. The Cavs, on the other hand, are giving him closer to 24 minutes per game, which is a sizable increase in time on the court.
His stats have seen some improvement to match. His last full month, aka January, with Kings saw Ellis collect 6.3 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.6 blocks, and 0.7 steals per game. In the month of March with the Cavs, he averaged 9.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 1.3 steals.
These aren't exactly NBA Most Improved Player award numbers, but the increases cannot be denied. It's not just about minutes, either. The Cavs have shown more faith in Ellis than the Kings did, putting him in a position to succeed instead of sitting him out for random games for no reason.
Making the situation worse for the Kings is the fact that the guy they traded for from the Cavs, De'Andre Hunter, didn't last two full games before sustaining a season-ending injury. Regardless, Ellis has seen noticeable improvement away from Sacramento, proving where the issues were for him.