Should Heat target this coveted Kings two-way disruptor? - Hot Hot Hoops

Keon Ellis (Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

We are still early into the 2025-26 season. While the Sacramento Kings picked up a critical 128-123 road win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, they are 4-13 after playing the league’s hardest schedule through 17 games.

They are an unmitigated disaster (tell me if you’ve heard that before!), sporting the league’s fifth-worst offense and third-worst defense. Sacramento will also be without star big Domantas Sabonis (meniscus tear) for the next month. The beam is shut off, and the Kings should be on the precipice of a fire sale … if owner Vivek Ranadive will commit to it.

Should the Kings begin to sell off pieces over the next month, one player, who’s been seemingly fighting for minutes all season, that Miami should check in on is Kings two-way guard Keon Ellis.

Why Heat should check in on Keon Ellis:

I know what many of you are thinking: Well, we have too many other guards (or players below 6-foot-6).

On one hand, you’re completely correct.

But the Miami Heat will need to make a consolidation trade at some point. What they should — or may — consolidate, I don’t know. It may not happen! But should they consolidate, there will be spots to fill, and Ellis should unquestionably be one of the players they target to help fill it.

Listed at 6-foot-4, Ellis recorded his first DNP-CD of the season in Saturday’s win. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t conducive to winning.

So far this season, he’s averaged 6.6 points on 44.0 percent shooting, 42.4 percent from 3-point range and 70.0 percent from the free-throw line. Those are relatively modest numbers, but Ellis’s impact transcends the box score.

Every NBA team needs shot creation, but every NBA team also needs incredibly disruptive defenders who can guard multiple positions. Ellis fits the latter. He’s a highly disruptive defender, ranking in the 96th percentile in deflections per 36 this year while averaging 2.6 steals per 75 possessions.

Ellis is averaging 2.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per 75 for his career while sporting a 64.5 percent true shooting percentage. He uses all of his 6-foot-9 wingspan and 8-foot-6 wingspan to his advantage whenever he’s on the court. Ellis has also turned himself into a reliable spot-up shooter who can attack closeouts while limiting mistakes.

The two tricky parts about a potential trade are 1.) His contract and 2.) Figuring out which chess pieces Heat should move. They have a great problem with all their depth.

He’s in the last year of a three-year, $5.1 million deal with a $2.3 million cap hit this season, according to Spotrac. That’s nothing, which likely means that Ellis would be the sweetener in a bigger deal to offload someone else. If that’s the case, Miami could be the 3rd/4th/5th team to facilitate it while potentially getting him on a cheaper deal.

Let me make this clear: Checking in doesn’t mean a deal automatically should or will get done. All it takes is one phone call. We aren’t privy to conversations behind closed doors, but building a relationship with Scott Perry and his new regime, if one isn’t built already, is never a bad thing, especially if you plan on doing business in the future.

At some point, pace wears on legs. Heat will need extra bodies. And Keon Ellis, a former undrafted free agent who’s a better rebounder, slasher and playmaker than he gets credit for, would add plenty of fuel to the Miami Heat’s fire.

Should Heat target this coveted Kings two-way disruptor? – Hot Hot Hoops

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