Kings Could Have New Trade Suitor for Highly Coveted G Keon Ellis

As the NBA trade landscape takes shape, potential options for the Sacramento Kings are becoming clearer. This week, HoopsHype’s Mike Scotto reported that the Indiana Pacers are interested in Kings guard Keon Ellis.

The Pacers’ reported interest in Ellis should not surprise anyone at this point. It has been widely reported that Ellis has garnered significant interest around the league. As we have extensively covered, Ellis is a confirmed good player. Despite what the decisions regarding Ellis’s contract and decisions regarding rotations and minutes distributions might say, both the Kings’ front office and coaching staff value Ellis.

The important part of Scotto’s report is the name linked to a potential Ellis-to-Indiana deal, saying, “Pacers forward Jarace Walker was mentioned during conversations surrounding Ellis. However it’s unclear which team brought up Walker in the exploratory discussions.”

A potential Keon Ellis-for-Jarace Walker swap

For those unfamiliar with Walker, he was the 8th pick in the 2023 draft. The 6-foot-7 forward out of Houston has struggled to find consistent minutes in Indiana’s rotation, which featured several players at Walker’s position, including All-Star Pascal Siakam.

Obi Toppin, specifically, has soaked up most of the reserve forward/small-ball big minutes that could have gone to Walker. There is a hint of irony here, as the Pacers acquired Toppin from the New York Knicks in circumstances similar to how Sacramento would potentially acquire Walker.

Toppin similarly struggled to find consistent minutes with the Knicks over his first three seasons. He was traded to Indiana for relatively cheap for a former top-10 pick. Indiana got to evaluate and develop Toppin for a year before signing him as an RFA, and he has carved out a nice role that fits what Rick Carlisle and his staff want to do.

This is the kind of low-cost, potentially long-term “second draft” acquisition Scott Perry should be looking for as he embarks on what will likely be a longer-term rebuild. Taking swings on former high picks that have not panned out - particularly those who have not panned out due to simply not getting enough minutes on a good team - is a big part of how Indiana retooled and built a sustainable winner. It is in the Kings’ best interest to copy this model.

Walker is currently averaging 9.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 2 APG on 35/31.4/81.7 splits. While his three-point accuracy has dipped with more volume (just 31.4% on 4.7 3PA/G this year compared to 40% on 1.7 and 2.5 attempts/game his first two seasons), one has to hope he averages out to an average shooter. This is the sort of gamble you take with second draft players.

The young forward is seeing extended run amid a gap year for an Indiana team missing (among many others) franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton. Walker is playing 25.6 MPG this season compared to just 10.3 and 15.8 in his first two seasons.

Jarace Walker Passing 2024-2025 pic.twitter.com/l6BpF1ZVtx
— Josh (@jtbNBA) June 28, 2025

Importantly, Walker provides strong positional size, of which Sacramento has next to none. He also seems to embody the culture the organization purportedly wants to build. Walker, spending his lone college season at Houston - a program notorious for developing physical, hard-nosed players - is a testament to who he is and wants to be as a player.

In sum, Walker is exactly the kind of player Sacramento should be looking for if they try to go the talent-for-talent route in trading Ellis. If this trade were to happen and the Kings see enough to consider him part of the long-term picture, they could extend him this summer.

A quick look at recent comparable extensions:

Rookie extension contracts with adjusted salaries | James McCauley

Given Walker’s limited track record, he likely falls in the Nesmith/Moody range right now - around 3/$45-50M. If he pops after the theoretical trade, he could certainly reach Jovic/Avdija value, reaching 4/$70-75M (as always, structure may vary).

Walker’s new contract would fall at or below the midlevel exception. This would not break the bank, and has the potential to be a value if Walker pops with the greater runway he would inevitably get on a Kings team with little to no big wings aside from Keegan Murray.

Additionally, Walker would still be on his rookie scale contract, important when considering how much money Sacramento has already committed to players in 2026-27. Every Ellis scenario involves paying him more than the ~$8M Walker is owed next season - undoubtedly something the tax-averse Kings are considering (the Pacers are similarly allergic to the luxury tax, and will probably operate the same way.

If Sacramento feels they need more time to evaluate Walker, they could wait until after the 2026-27 season to re-sign Walker, when he will be an RFA, and they have a lot of control. Some comparable RFAs below:

As we saw last summer, the RFA market has been frigid lately. It is also a great means to retain your talent. RFAs hardly ever receive offer sheets, let alone actually leave their incumbent team anymore. Walker would theoretically have another season to improve his market in this scenario, but that assumes there will be a market of teams armed with the money to make a substantial offer.

The Kings’ needs are abundantly clear. Chief among them are positional size, general defensive ability, and the ability to play off the ball. Ideally, any trades the Kings make would make them younger, too. Walker checks all of these boxes and has not yet enjoyed the runway typically given to a top-ten pick.

It does not take much imagination to see Walker playing power forward between Keegan Murray and Maxime Raynaud, adding a level of physicality that Murray and Raynaud do not quite have.

Jarace Walker 15 PTS, 6/10 FG, 22 MP pic.twitter.com/L75I0n15rC
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) April 1, 2025

Smart small market teams (like the Pacers) have successfully retooled by capitalizing on players that never find their groove with their first team. Some would say Indiana is doing this again with Ellis on the other side of this hypothetical trade. If Marc Stein is correct in reporting that the Kings are not planning on using Ellis as a sweetener in bigger deals, they will be hard-pressed to find a better talent-fit combination in a player-for-player swap than the Pacers forward.

A potential Keon Ellis-for-Jarace Walker swap

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