This lineup decision could be Mike Brown's worst decision as Kings' head coach yet

Listen, don't let the headline fool you. Mike Brown is a very good coach, and he is the best coach the Sacramento Kings have had in the last two decades. So, don't let any of what you are about to read right now make you believe that we are ungrateful for all the success he has brought to this team since his arrival (the Kings have won an average of 47 games over the last two seasons). But this needs to be discussed.

Why are the Sacramento Kings not playing Keon Ellis?

Arguably the biggest bright spot of the 2023-24 season for the Kings was the emergence of Keon Ellis. Ellis went from going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft to being the team's starting shooting guard for the final 17 games (15 regular season, two play-in) of the Kings' season.

While he still has a ways to go, Ellis has the skillset to be a Derrick White type role player. He can shoot (41.7% 3-point shooter last year), attack closeouts with drives (88th percentile true shooting on drives, per Thinking Basketball database), defend (95th percentile Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus, per Dunks & Threes), create turnovers (96th percentile steal rate), and offer secondary rim protection (80th percentile block rate).

That type of player is the perfect type of player to pair with offensively-inclined guys like De'Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis. But instead of empowering Ellis to soar high into the sky, Brown has clipped his wings.

It started prior to the season opener when Brown relegated Ellis back to the bench after Kevin Huerter was cleared to return to the lineup. Then, in the team's season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Brown decided to only play Ellis 11 minutes.

But that's not even the worst of it. What led to the inception of this post was what Brown decided to do against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday. If you take a look at the box score, you will see that Ellis logged the dreaded "DNP-Coach's Decision."

So, for all we know, Ellis was completely healthy. Brown just chose not to play him at all. Yet, he thought it wise to give Jordan McLaughlin (who logged a DNP-Coach's Decision against the Timberwolves) three minutes in that game.

Listen, there is a lot that goes into the decision-making process of coaches that we never really get to see. So, in general, I usually defer to them when it comes to these situations. Brown is also notorious for tinkering with lineups early on in seasons before discovering his consistent rotation toward the end.

But given how well Ellis played at the tail end of last season and how much this roster construction needs his set of skills, it's hard to look at Brown's decision from Saturday and not scratch your head.