Keon Ellis' time with the Sacramento Kings was ... weird.
There were times they were just as convinced as everyone else regarding how large of a role Ellis deserved in the rotation. There were also moments of him receiving DNPs from the coaching staff. The indecision about how much a talented player like Keon would play was troubling.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have not suffered from the same type of hesitation. Ellis got a healthy amount of playing time in his debut with the Cavaliers on Feb. 4. That much has not changed since. The new spark plug off the Cavs bench has played no less than 17 minutes in a matchup thus far.
Ellis is averaging 21.4 minutes per game in the seven games played with Cleveland to this point. That is a noticeable bump from the 17.6 in that category that was had with the Kings, when they elected to have him get up off the bench. There should be no reason to believe the Cavaliers waver in how much freedom they continue to allow their new two-way force given his early contributions.
Keon Ellis' two-way play has firmly secured him a Cavaliers rotation spot
In the minutes Kenny Atkinson has given his new defensive playmaker so far, Ellis has averaged 5.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game, shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc. The impact goes beyond the numbers, though.
Ellis has been a force on the defensive end, bringing the type of relentless energy to the Cavaliers that should make him a player who needs to be featured during the championship push. The Kings, naturally, could have never granted him as much, seeing as they were never contenders. However, there never should have been an excuse to have the volatility with the minutes that was seen.
Even looking as recently as 2025-26, Ellis did have 16 games of 20-plus minutes played. On the other end of the spectrum, the former Kings guard also had 14 matchups of playing 12 minutes or less. That comes before even discussing the contests missed altogether.
There are some limitations that come with Ellis' size, sure. There is even inconsistency on the offensive end to a certain capacity. Even with all of that in mind, it's still hard to wrap one's head around not trying to get a role player like him on the floor consistently.
Ellis was the most in-demand 3-and-D trade target before the deadline. Part of that was due to the lack of supply. The other reason was simply his talent. The Cavaliers took their shot and landed their guy before time ran out to do so. By the looks of the early sample, they are going to take every opportunity to see what they have in him.