The player who will save the Kings season might already be on the team

With today's emphasis on space-and-pace, wings that hit shots and lock up are at a premium. You'd think the Sacramento Kings would know that because they have one of the best 3-and-D players on their roster.

Mike Brown's unfortunate canning stemmed from reasons the public may never know about. One thing that stood out from the outside was the lack of playing time Keon Ellis was receiving.

Ellis averaged a measly 20 minutes a game in the 29 games under Brown this year, and he only started four games. He's their best point-of-attack defender. Guys with that title usually play more.

Doug Christie is the King's interim coach, and his presence has been inspiring. He got the message that Ellis should be playing more. In Sacremento's five-game winning streak in the post-Brown era, Ellis gets 33 minutes per game and he's already matched his games started total under Brown this year.

Ellis has also seen an uptick in 3-point volume. He's hitting 39 percent on 5.2 3s a game during the winning streak. Due to the volume, teams haven't respected his consistent jumper throughout his career, but that'll change if this uptick remains.

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Keon Ellis is hiding in plain sight as supercharged role player

The Miami Heat got a rude awakening last night when Ellis buried timely 3s in the Kings' comeback victory.

Miami often elected to help off Ellis and stick two or shade over to DeMar DeRozan. That's sound logic by the Heat to get the ball out of the 20-something-thousand-point scorer's hands, but Ellis threw that gameplan out the window.

He drilled three 3s in the fourth quarter alone in Scaremento's comeback effort. Ellis got his bench, the crowd, and the Kings announcer hype with every momentum-swinging 3 he buried. The Kings don't come back without him.

One may think Ellis wasn't playing as often as his skillset suggests because the Kings have other, more established guards. De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis run the show and have plenty of on-ball duties. The off-guards are there to complement those two.

The Kings' off-guard rotation consists of Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, and Eliis. Monk is a combo guard who can alleviate pressure on Sabonis and Fox with frequent successful on-ball reps. Huerter is supposed to be a lethal sharpshooter, but he's shooting a career-worst 32 percent from deep. I believe he was playing more or as much as Ellis was so the Kings could increase his trade value. The way Huerter is shooting isn't helping that cause.

Ellis is the pesky defender in the group. He pairs tenacious on-ball defense with accurate shooting. Teams haven't gotten the message yet — they continue to sag off the 42 percent shooter. Teams will learn in due time. Miami already did.

The Kings have been a newsworthy team looking to shake things up. They didn't expect to continue as a play-in team when they added DeMar DeRozan in the offseason. This roster won't be substantially different unless they move Fox or Sabonis. They want to keep Fox as he's the franchise pillar, and Sabonis is a top-tier big with flaws. I don't see a trade out there for Sabonis that makes the Kings better today.

If they want to keep Fox happy, hoping he resigns with them next off-season, playing the savvy Ellis more will help them win games. Ellis takes the elite guards so Fox doesn't have to. He's a pickpocket artist great scorers can't be lazy around.

In 410 minutes together, Fox and Ellis have a plus-9.93 net rating. There's a clear synergy between the workhorse Ellis and the elite All-Star guard in Fox. Playing Ellis more has coincided with the Kings' recent success. He's key to their hopeful in-season turnaround.