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Per 100 possessions last season — split between the Kings and Cavaliers — Keon Ellis ranked in the 93rd percentile in steals (2.7), in the 95th percentile in blocks (1.5) and the 96th percentile in both turnovers forced (1.6) and deflections (6.4). His stop percentile of 4.4 ranked in the 98th percentile. “It’s just about the effort. I go out there and I just try to make it tough on guys,” Ellis said. “You’re playing against the best players in the world. They’re gonna score; they’re gonna get to their spots. You’re gonna have bad defensive games [and] good defensive games. But the mindset of every night trying to do the right things, be in the right spots and just attack the game plan. That’ll help everyone accomplish the goal.
Mike Vorkunov: Keon Ellis has agreed to a 2-year, $18 million deal with the Brooklyn Nets, league sources confirmed to @FredKatz and me. The contract has a team AND player option for Year 2, so either side can choose to opt in. @ShamsCharania first on it.
Shams Charania: The deal, negotiated by Mark Bartelstein and Torrian Jones of @PrioritySports , contains a full mutual option that fully guarantees the $18M for Ellis while allowing both sides to have a conversation about a new deal next summer, but either party can opt-in (not opt-out).
Brian Windhorst: "I would keep an eye on Max Strus. Dean Wade is going to be expensive, I think more expensive than the Cavs were hoping. I think Keon Ellis could be gone unless they lose Dean Wade. If they lose Dean Wade, I think they re-engineer the concept of Keon Ellis. Max Strus's extension eligible has one year at $19 million left on his contract. I want to see if the Cavs are extending Max Strus or if they have to trade Max Strus. And the reason you would trade Max Strus is so that you could potentially afford to keep Dean Wade."
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The most pressing piece of roster business in Cleveland, outside of the Cavaliers ironing out a future agreement with Harden, will come down to its decisions on Dean Wade and Keon Ellis as they seek to move out of the second apron. Sources say that team officials already concede behind the scenes that it will be extremely difficult to keep both players.
Michael Scotto: Cavaliers guard Keon Ellis on free agency: “I think me being in this situation helps everyone. Going into the summer, we’ll see where all the cards end up, but I do think it’s a good situation for both sides. We can both help each other. Who knows what’ll happen in the summer? I definitely think it’s a great situation to be in, coming from Sacramento to here now. I’m definitely excited about it for sure.”
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Donovan Mitchell: [Harden and I] talked a little bit, but I’m going to start probably talking to him when I get back home. A big reset was needed for everybody, especially after all the craziness of the past week. This a level of hunger that we need to have, and I have no doubt we have it. We’ve had it for the past few weeks. So, it’s not just something that we need to discover. We need to continue to do what we’ve been doing [after] the break and just be hungry like we have been. Obviously, we have to get James, Dennis and Keon acclimated and continue to do what we do, but continue to be hungry, continue to be desperate. That’s the biggest thing.
SiriusXM NBA Radio: “It’s LeBron James, right?" Here’s Donovan Mitchell’s thoughts on the rumors that LeBron could finish his career in Cleveland @TermineRadio | @Jumpshot8. “As a Bron fan, to be able to be a teammate would obviously be special. But that’s something not in my control. I control what we got here. There’s always going to be reports. It’s natural, it’s going to be a thing. But at the end of the day, to your point, my main focus right now is trying to get this championship. And whatever happens, it happens. And that’s not up to me, that’s not up to anybody, those in the locker room. I’m a big believer in what I can control, but yeah, I mean, it’s LeBron James, right? But at the end of the day, that’s not my focus. (…) We just traded for James Harden, Dennis Schroeder, Keon Ellis, hey, let’s try to find a way to get a ring and go from there.”
"It’s LeBron James, right?"
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 15, 2026
Here’s Donovan Mitchell’s thoughts on the rumors that LeBron could finish his career in Cleveland@TermineRadio | @Jumpshot8
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Scott Perry on trading Keon Ellis: When you make a trade a lot of times you have to give something up and Keon Ellis was valued by Cleveland as well. There was going to be a decision that needed to be made about Keon as well contractually coming this off season. We needed more size, though, and we, as you've seen it play out this year, we've had so many guards on the roster, and so you've seen guys in and out of the rotation. Keon was one of those guys. So, there was long stretches he didn't play. There was some stretches he did. So we just opted to get a bigger version of that.
Cleveland recently reshaped its roster by acquiring James Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers and adding Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis in a deal with the Sacramento Kings. The activity prompted Smith, a key member of the Cavaliers’ 2016 NBA championship team, to weigh in on James’ future during the latest episode of FanDuel’s Run It Back. “I mean this is speculation. I don’t know. This is all speculation, but we still got our group chat and all that. We still talk, but honestly, this is my opinion, but I think he goes back to Cleveland next year,” Smith said. “Rides it out. Rides into the sunset. I don’t think this is his last year. I think he doesn’t have to keep playing, but I still think he has a lot left in the tank to where he’s very impactful. Especially to a team like Cleveland with the pieces they already have.”
