Despite not earning lots of guaranteed minutes for Sacramento, one insider revealed why Monk is the most wanted trade asset from the Kings.
Keon Ellis has seven nights left before finding out if he's staying with the Sacramento Kings or moving on. He does have a reported 14 NBA teams asking about him.
Ellis remains the top trade asset on the Kings across league circles. He recently got linked to the Golden State Warriors alongside DeMar DeRozan. But talks there hit a snag on Wednesday.
Yet how is it that a seldom used player is the talk of league trade circles? Sam Amick of The Athletic dropped a thorough explanation on Wednesday night.
"Keon Ellis is the King who has received the most interest on the trade market to this point, per league sources, largely because of his contract and perceived value," Amick began. "At times, Ellis' ability gets a bit overstated. He is a limited offensive player without a lot of ball-handling skill. He's also quite skinny, which means that he's not quite a full-on switchable, stopper with All-Defense caliber-upside on that end of the court."
But Amick dove into the reasons teams see potential in the 26-year-old.
"However, Ellis can bring energetic defensive play with excellent, disruptive hand-eye coordination," Amick said. "He can take on tough defensive assignments in the backcourt. As a shooter, he's been a 41.5 percent 3-point marksman for his career (36 percent this season), excelling as the fifth offensive option on the court who can space from the corners or in relocations above-the-break. You have to guard him, although I don't think of him as a guy that you run off-ball actions for."
There's a key presented involving Ellis that can persuade a trade.
"The key here, though, is that Ellis only makes $2.3 million, meaning every team in the league can theoretically get involved in a potential bidding war," Amick said. "He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but the team that acquires him would have his full Bird rights and a low cap hold."
What about the asking price and if anything surfaced there?
"The asking price is thought to be in the range of a late first-round pick," Amick said. "Other teams around the league, though, are struggling to answer the question as to why he doesn't play more on a team that could theoretically use his defense and off-ball shot-making. That might hold it back to a couple of second-rounders."
Ellis will learn his future by Feb. 5 -- the date of the league's trade deadline.
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