Kings' Keon Ellis Has Career Night in Narrow Loss to Hawks

Sacramento Kings rising star Keon Ellis showed out in Monday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Nov 10, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Keon Ellis (23) reacts as he defends on an inbound pass during a game against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images / Allan Henry-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings fell to the Atlanta Hawks 109-108 on a Dyson Daniels deflection on De’Aaron Fox’s game-winning attempt. For a Kings team that loves deflections, it was an ironic end to a game that got physical down the stretch.

While the Kings lost, Keon Ellis had a career night off the bench to pick up some of the missed offense of DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, and Domantas Sabonis.

Keon Ellis tonight:
33 Pts (Career-high)
6 Reb
1 Ast
1 Stl
1 Blk
9-of-15 (60%) from beyond the arc pic.twitter.com/YLc7whup3x

— Will Z. Stats (@will_zimmerle) November 19, 2024

Coming into the game, Keon had shot 11-of-32 (34.4 percent) from beyond the arc. He nearly doubled his total made threes tonight with nine against the Hawks.

The Kings need more of a scoring punch off the bench, especially with the trio of injuries. But Keon getting back into shooting form is what turns the Kings into a contender when healthy.

Outside of Malik Monk, the Kings have lacked another player off the bench who can explode for a big game since the departure of Terence Davis.

Keon Ellis is the first Kings player outside of Malik Monk to score 20+ Points off the bench since Terence Davis on March 18, 2023.

Monk was the only player to do it last year. Kings needed someone to step up tonight and Keon did tonight pic.twitter.com/URNgtrBDAY

— Will Z. Stats (@will_zimmerle) November 19, 2024

Keon briefly left the game in the third quarter after appearing to tweak his ankle. He didn’t make another shot after his return but played high-level defense to close out the game. Time will tell the severity of the ankle, which would be a difficult blow on top of the other injuries if the star trio remains out.

Keon reminded everyone why he is so important for this team. Every team needs as many players as possible to play lockdown defense and hit threes. And when Keon is on, he’s one of the best in the league to do it.

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