Apologies about the poor analysis || The Kings are slowly rotting away, and in spite of that, won't give Keon playing time. He's currently sitting at 16.9 mpg, which is criminal on a Kings squad this bad.
The Kings absolutely should rebuild: they have their own pick this year and the ability to be bad. In my opinion, they should be trying to flip guys like Sabonis, LaVine, and even DeRozan (if someone wants to offer an FRP) for future firsts and try to rebuild around youth. Monk is probably their most valuable asset, and although I could see him staying, someone might just make the Kings an offer that they take up. In short, I think the Kings should gut their vets for FRPs and try to hard tank this season to get one of Boozer/AJ/Darryn to pair with the likes of Murray, Clifford, Raynaud, and potentially guys like Monk and Keon and keep a few cheap vets to make their games somewhat watchable and mentor the younger guys.
The issue is that it's the King's FO.
It would in no way surprise me if they pull a Bulls and simply wait out the trade deadline, letting their clearly insufficient assets slowly fade away with age piling on (LaVineyard is 30, Derozan is 36, Sabonis is 29). It would be incredibly ... them. Vivek doesn't want to lose but he's unable to assemble a squad capable of pulling through.
In this hypothetical world, I think they make a move as an appeasement tactic: a sort of "look guys! we did something!". It wouldn't be of particularly great value or well thought-through, but that's the Kings FO for you. So what move do they make? They can't make up their mind on anybody making more than 10 million (nobody wants Schroeder at north of 14 million a year), and there's next to no people of note outside of rookies on contracts cheaper than that (sorry Dario Saric).
The one man they do have who people care about is Keon Ellis. Once more, in this hypothetical situation, this is not a well-thought out trade; I imagine they don't call every FO and let a bidding war play out, they more likely call 10 looking for something or someone and then take the offer that they like the most. Everyone is happy: the fans get the "change" they SURELY wanted and the Kings FO gets to stop caring.
So why the Raptors? Beside my implicit bias of being a Raptors fan, they aren't in the Western Conference and aren't "that good" so the trade is unlikely to end up like the Alex Caruso trade (wherein the Bulls FO would have surely caught shit if Giddey didn't figure out scoring in the last third of the season).
So what would they get in return? Why would the Kings even call the Raptors about this? Well, depth, mainly. The Kings starting lineup has a lot of issues, but it's sort of "good enough". The Shead-Mamu due for the Raptors is one of the best bench duos ITL bar none. It would give the Kings a solid center who can ... (read as if scared) space the floor?!!?!! and an underloved, but incredibly gritty, defensive point guard whose propensity for assists is desperately needed on a team with LaVine and DeRozan as two of their most important players.
Is that worth what Keon Ellis provides? Unlikely. Do the Kings care? Also unlikely.
It's worth noting two further factors of this trade: a) Keon is a UFA after this year, which means that anyone who swings for a trade has to figure out where to pull north of 15 million per year for the next for years from for a contract for Ellis and b) that he's kind of ... not doing good right now. His 2p%, 3p%, TRBs, and ASTs have all dipped to levels unseen by him before. His midrange shotmaking is suffering, and although he's mostly shooting the same shot diet, it's just not falling the same. In fact, he put up a 20 minute Tony Snell game versus Houston. It's that rough right now.
Why would that matter for the trade? Well, Sacramento seems reluctant to spend more money on a BIG extension with the five big contracts they already have on the books. In addition, this recent run of poor play seems likely to keep that skepticism high, especially for a FO like the Kings, whose actions have shown a clear lack of foresight and planning.
I think I've made my case for why the Kings might make this trade, at least I hope. But why would the Raptors?
It's pretty simple: Keon Ellis is a really damn good basketball player. He's a pesky defender, an eternal off-ball defense menace, a career .425 3 point shooter (even if he's shooting "only" 39% right now), and a Moreyball merchant (north of 80% of his shots are rim attempts and threes). Toronto could use a guy like Keon in so many ways. He's a floor spacer who is able to stay on the floor due to his defensive presence, and he's able to adapt the way he plays defense when he finds himself on the floor with better defenders, changing to wreak more havoc off the ball. This would be a slam-dink aquisition for the Raptors if they can keep him, as it would not surprise me if he looks so fantastic that he prices himself out of Toronto's range without them flipping RJ Barrett elsewhere.
That's all. Thank you to all those reading for reading this weird conglomeration of bad trade idea and hate piece on the Kings FO.
Have a good day!! :)