{"id":565539,"date":"2026-01-28T04:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565539\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T04:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:37:12","slug":"kings-rumors-ellis-poeltl-kuminga-derozan-lavine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565539\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Rumors: Ellis, Poeltl, Kuminga, DeRozan, LaVine"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cton\u201d of teams have called the Kings to inquire about Keon Ellis<\/a>, according to James Ham of Locked On Kings (YouTube link<\/a>), who identifies the Timberwolves, Pacers, Celtics, and Knicks as a few of the clubs his sources suggest are worth monitoring as suitors for the fourth-year guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I have heard, (they) have all called on Keon Ellis,\u201d Ham said.<\/p>\n

Ellis is an intriguing trade candidate because his $2.3MM expiring contract makes him an attainable piece for just about any NBA team, including clubs like Minnesota, Boston, and New York, who are operating above the first tax apron. If he\u2019s dealt, Ellis\u2019 Bird rights<\/a> would travel with him and he\u2019d become extension-eligible on February 9, just a few days after the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

One weekend report<\/a> suggested Ellis is among the players most likely to be moved at the deadline, with the Kings said to be seeking<\/a> a late first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Kings:<\/p>\n

Discussing the possibility of the Raptors making a play for center Domantas Sabonis<\/a>, Ham said the Kings have \u201czero interest\u201d in acquiring big man Jakob Poeltl<\/a>, who has battled back issues this season and is under contract through 2029\/30 (YouTube link<\/a>). \u201c\u2018We\u2019re not getting into the Jakob Poeltl business\u2019 is what I was told,\u201d Ham said, though he observed that the same source didn\u2019t say anything about the Kings not getting into the \u201cRJ Barrett<\/a> business.\u201d Barrett was drafted by the Knicks when current Kings general manager Scott Perry was in New York\u2019s front office.
\nResponding to speculation that the Raptors would seek Ellis along with Sabonis in a trade with the Kings, Ham says a source told him \u201cunequivocally\u201d that Toronto and Sacramento haven\u2019t discussed Ellis to this point.
\nThe Kings are no longer willing to include any draft picks in a trade offer Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, but they remain interested in the Warriors forward, Ham confirms (YouTube link<\/a>). \u201cI do know for a fact that the Sacramento Kings have offered, in the past, DeMar DeRozan<\/a> straight up for Jonathan Kuminga,\u201d Ham said. Golden State would need to include one more player in that hypothetical deal in order to stay below its hard cap, but it doesn\u2019t sound<\/a> like the Warriors have real interest in DeRozan anyway.
\nZach LaVine<\/a> would \u201cabsolutely love to move on from Sacramento,\u201d according to Ham (YouTube link<\/a>), though his maximum-salary contract will be a major impediment. Ham suggests there was a \u201cray of hope\u201d about a potential deal with the Bucks involving Kyle Kuzma<\/a> and Bobby Portis<\/a>, but that outcome seems less likely as a result of Milwaukee\u2019s recent struggles and Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2018s latest calf strain<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201cton\u201d of teams have called the Kings to inquire about Keon Ellis, according to James Ham of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,507,3213,4672,1399,867,3211,124,1041,3212],"class_list":{"0":"post-565539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bobby-portis","10":"tag-demar-derozan","11":"tag-domantas-sabonis","12":"tag-jakob-poeltl","13":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","14":"tag-keon-ellis","15":"tag-kyle-kuzma","16":"tag-rj-barrett","17":"tag-zach-lavine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115970877165549505","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}