The Sacramento Kings don't have a great defense. As it stands, they have the 19th-ranked defense in terms of defensive rating. However, while it is primarily because of some flaws in their roster construction, it doesn't mean that they don't have great defensive players.
One of those players is Keon Ellis (another one is Keegan Murray, by the way). On the season, Ellis is in the 96th percentile in steal rate and the 84th percentile in block rate. The latter is even more impressive because Ellis is a shooting guard, and it is usually centers who occupy the top of that list.
Ellis is also in the 80th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus – one of the best publicly available one-number metrics on the market. He's also 11th among the 420 players who have played at least 20 games in deflections per 36 minutes (5.1, per NBA.com).
Sounds like someone who should get serious consideration for an All-Defense spot? Unfortunately, Ellis isn't even eligible for this discussion because of the rule change that the NBA recently implemented.
New rule change makes Ellis ineligible for All-Defense consideration
Over the last few years, load management has been a serious issue in the NBA. Many teams have opted to rest players on certain in order to keep them fresh for the postseason. This has led to a great deal of frustration from fans who tuned into games (whether on TV or in-person) only to be disappointed that the player(s) they wanted to watch isn't playing to conserve their bodies.
Since the start of the 2023-24 season, for a player to be eligible for major awards (like such as Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA, and All-Defense), they must play in at least 65 regular season games.
Ellis is already at the 65-game threshold (he just played his 65th game on Monday). So, what is the problem?
Well, not only do players have to play at least 65 games, but they also need to play at least 20 minutes in each of those games.
Ellis' inconsistent role on the team has been a topic of discussion among Kings' fans all season. So, despite only missing two games to this point, Ellis is ineligible for an All-Defense spot because he's played less than 20 minutes in 24 games.
This is yet another example of the NBA's new rule having an unintended consequence. Last year, Tyrese Haliburton played hurt for large parts of the season just to stay eligible for an All-NBA spot. As a result, he has had a hard time getting back to the form he was at to start last year.
Will the NBA see these side effects and revise their recent rule? I'm sure Ellis and the Kings probably think so.