The Sacramento Kings are probably open for business before this season's trade deadline. They're 8-24 with about a dozen guards all fighting for playing time. One of those guards, Keon Ellis, has been drawing attention around the league as a potential trade target. If they're not already, the Los Angeles Lakers should be one of the teams bidding for Ellis' services in the next month.
For some reason, Ellis is averaging just 17.2 minutes per game this year, down considerably from last season. I said before the year that Sacramento adding a few veterans shouldn't impact the role Ellis plays too much, and boy was I wrong. I don't understand the Kings' reluctance to use Ellis, but I don't understand most things the Kings do.
So here we are, in a situation where the Lakers could make an intra-state trade with the Kings and get themselves the real point-of-attack defender they've been looking for. If they perhaps make a deal for Ellis and Robert Williams III, which I also suggested, then the defense would start to look an awful lot different.
What would the Lakers have to sacrifice to add Keon Ellis?
This is the big question. Like I said, Ellis is not a huge contributor for the Kings this year, so inquiring teams do seem to hold more leverage than the Kings. Plus, he's on the final year of his contract, and expiring players — even if they can provide instant impacts — don't often fetch a big return on the trade block.
A draft pick is probably requirement, and the Kings might even hold teams' feet to the fire and ask for a first-rounder. If the Lakers think Ellis is the difference-maker who brings them into contention, that's worth it every day of the week. Isn't winning the point of this all anyway?
Whether the Kings have any interest in trading with the Lakers remains to be seen. There will always be some hostility between the two franchises, and the Kings potentially giving the Lakers the final piece to their puzzle might not sit well in Sac Town.
A trade for Keon Ellis might be a longshot, but it makes far too much sense for Rob Pelinka to not at least give it a shot. There are too many defensive negatives on this Lakers roster to dismiss a defensive demon like Ellis.