The only way to explain Sacramento Kings' head coach Doug Christie's inability to see the value in Keon Ellis is personal issues with the young player. Oddly enough, the Warriors are having the same problem with Steve Kerr and Jonathan Kuminga. The best move might be to finally make a trade.
Given Christie's self-professed focus on defense, not having Ellis in the regular rotation makes no sense. He is a 3&D player with a huge upside if given the minutes to properly develop and acclimatize to the team. Yet, Christie doesn't seem interested in that, and there's no real reason why.
What it likely comes down to is that Christie and his coaching staff simply don't want to work with Ellis. It could be more of a personal issue than a professional one. And that's what you want in a head coach who is partially in charge of a massive roster rebuild.
The Warriors are in a similar position. Most of the league seems to agree that Jonathan Kuminga has the potential to be one of the greats. Much like Christie, head coach Steve Kerr seems unwilling to work with him. As such, the Kings and the Warriors might have to solve each other's problems.
It's not a straightforward trade between Golden State and Sacramento
Over the offseason, the Warriors were in a strange spot with Kuminga. He wanted more respect from the coaching staff and held off signing a new contract. This led to a lot of trade rumors, many of which involved the Kings. None of them came to fruition, and Kuminga stayed with Golden State.
While Kuminga signed on for two more years, nothing has changed. He still rides the bench a lot, is not part of the rotation, and has minimal usage. The Warriors are back to looking for a trade and may be interested in someone like Domantas Sabonis on the Kings.
Trading Ellis is also in the cards for Sacramento, though. There's no point in imprisoning this young man on a bench run by a coach who isn't going to play him with any consistency. That being said, he might find himself in the same position on the Warriors under Kerr.
Beyond that, Kuminga might not be the right fit for the Kings, depending on how this rebuild pans out. Regardless, a trade involving Kuminga and Ellis would at least get the two young stars out of their current dysfunctional situations and give them a real chance to move forward.