Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis will return to the team at a bargain price next season.
A league source told The Sacramento Bee on Sunday the Kings have picked up the $2.3 million team option on Ellis’ contract for the 2025-26 season.
Ellis, 25, is a former two-way player who has played a key role for the Kings after going undrafted out of Alabama in 2022. Ellis, one of the team’s top defenders, averaged career highs of 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.8 blocks last season, shooting 48.9% from the field and 43.3% from 3-point range.
Kings general manager Scott Perry faced a difficult decision and a deadline on the eve of NBA free agency, which is set to begin at 6 p.m. ET on Monday. Perry had to choose whether to pick up the option on Ellis’ contract or allow him to become a restricted free agent.
Had Ellis become a restricted free agent, the Kings would have had the right to match any offer Ellis received. Few teams will have salary cap space this summer, but Ellis surely would have commanded significant interest and a considerable pay raise from a team utilizing its midlevel exception.
Exercising Ellis’ option allows the Kings to keep him at a low price, but he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer if an extension is not reached by then. That could set Ellis up for an even bigger payday a year from now.
Ellis has appeared in 154 games with 49 starts over three seasons in Sacramento. He has averaged 6.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals while establishing himself as one of the team’s most versatile and disruptive defenders.