Keon Tyrese Ellis
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
I sat in front of Keon Ellis and Jordan Ford on a Southwest Flight coming home to Sacramento from Vegas this past summer. They were heading home after Summer League. I was listening in to the conversation Keon was having with the flight attendant as she had no idea he was an NBA player. Keon was super humble and super polite and engaging with her. (No it wasn’t flirtatious, this lady could’ve been his mother’s age). Anyway, I came away super impressed and I simply wished him and Jordan luck in the upcoming season with a “light the beam” as we were leaving. I don’t think I’ll see him flying Southwest again anytime soon 
Yeah I know Bird Rights requires 3 years of service and I assume that since this year was a conversion it counts as such. I'm not sure if last year counts as well or not and if so whether that makes this his first or second contract. I'm hoping it's merely on the books as a 4 year rookie contract at the end of the day and we have all the standard rights and protections of a FRP.
I sat in front of Keon Ellis and Jordan Ford on a Southwest Flight coming home to Sacramento from Vegas this past summer. They were heading home after Summer League. I was listening in to the conversation Keon was having with the flight attendant as she had no idea he was an NBA player. Keon was super humble and super polite and engaging with her. (No it wasn’t flirtatious, this lady could’ve been his mother’s age). Anyway, I came away super impressed and I simply wished him and Jordan luck in the upcoming season with a “light the beam” as we were leaving. I don’t think I’ll see him flying Southwest again anytime soon
OK, so this is actually tricky.
We had Keon on a Two-Way last year. We have him currently on a two-year deal with a team option for a third year. Since Keon did play in the NBA (16 games) last season, he established a year of service time. This year is year two of service time. Next year is year three of service time.
The team option year would be year four of service time. After that season, Keon would be an UNRESTRICTED free agent, because only players with three years of service time or less, or players coming off of a first-round rookie contract can be restricted. Keon would not qualify.
That means that if we want to make Keon a restricted free agent, we have to DECLINE the third year option, and let him enter free agency in the summer of '25.
Since Two-Way deals DO count for Bird Rights, we would have Keon's Bird Rights if we declined the team option.
So things could get very interesting, with the Kings possibly declining the option for year three in order to ensure that they can resign Ellis as both an RFA and with no effective cap restrictions.
We had Keon on a Two-Way last year. We have him currently on a two-year deal with a team option for a third year. Since Keon did play in the NBA (16 games) last season, he established a year of service time. This year is year two of service time. Next year is year three of service time.
The team option year would be year four of service time. After that season, Keon would be an UNRESTRICTED free agent, because only players with three years of service time or less, or players coming off of a first-round rookie contract can be restricted. Keon would not qualify.
That means that if we want to make Keon a restricted free agent, we have to DECLINE the third year option, and let him enter free agency in the summer of '25.
Since Two-Way deals DO count for Bird Rights, we would have Keon's Bird Rights if we declined the team option.
So things could get very interesting, with the Kings possibly declining the option for year three in order to ensure that they can resign Ellis as both an RFA and with no effective cap restrictions.
