Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Mock Trade Sends Kings' Keon Ellis to Nuggets for $43 Million Duo

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Nathaniel Holloway | Last updated Aug 8, 2025 10:00 AM ET

It has been an interesting offseason thus far for the Sacramento Kings as they have made upgrades to their roster after many around the NBA believed that they would begin a rebuild.

Of course, many around the league expected the Kings to rebuild this offseason after trading De’Aaron Fox at last season's trade deadline but that has not been the case.

Instead, the Kings have kept their core of Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine together and they have also made some notable additions to their roster.

In the 2025 NBA Draft, the Kings selected Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud and they also landed Dennis Schroder in free agency via a sign-and-trade with the Detroit Pistons.

The Kings have also been linked to other players this offseason and because of this, more moves may be on the way before the start of next season.

With that in mind, Sports Illustrated’s Rohan Raman recently released a mock draft that has the Kings sending Keon Ellis to the Denver Nuggets for two players.

Kings predicted to send Keon Ellis to Nuggets for two players

In the trade, the Kings would send Ellis and Terence Davis to the Nuggets for Zeke Nnaji, Peyton Watson and a 2031 first-round pick.

Denver would also send Julian Strawther to the Atlanta Hawks for a 2029 second-round pick in this three-team trade.

This is an interesting trade for every team involved but it does not make too much sense for the Kings.

Of course, the Kings have been unwilling to include Ellis in trades this offseason as they see him as key piece of their future and to swap him for Nnaji and Watson does not make too much sense for Sacramento.

Despite this, Watson is a solid young forward that could become a key piece of the Kings’ future as he continues to develop.

On the other side, Nnaji has struggled over the past few seasons and it may not be the best thing for the Kings to take on his salary, especially with where they currently stand as a franchise.

Because of this, this trade is very unlikely to happen as it appears as though the Kings are set to keeping Ellis and locking him up in the future with a contract extension.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: