Who will be fifth starter for Sacramento Kings: Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter or Keon Ellis?

The battle for the final spot in coach Mike Brown’s starting lineup was a big focal point when the Kings opened training camp Tuesday.

That battle won’t really begin until Kevin Huerter is cleared for full-contact activity after undergoing shoulder surgery, but Brown has offered clues to his thought process when it comes to the shooting guard position.

Defensive dynamo Keon Ellis is running with the starting unit as the Kings prepare for Wednesday’s preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Huerter will have a chance to win back his starting job when he returns in the next week or so. Malik Monk, the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year award last season, will likely reprise his role as one of the NBA’s most explosive and impactful reserves.

The Kings expect to have one of the league’s best offenses after adding DeMar DeRozan to a lineup that already features De’Aaron Fox, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis. Huerter and Monk would provide more scoring, but Ellis takes the team’s defense to another level.

Brown might feel he already has enough offensive firepower in the starting lineup with Fox, DeRozan, Murray and Sabonis. Ellis won’t take as many shots as Huerter and Monk, but Brown notes that Ellis is an underrated shooter. Ellis shot 50% on 0.8 3-point attempts as a rookie and 41.7% on 2.9 3-point attempts last season.

Ellis’ low usage, coupled with his tremendous defensive ability and 3-point efficiency, might make him the optimal choice for the starting lineup while allowing Huerter and Monk to carry a heavier scoring load with the second unit.

“If you think about it, Keon, out of all three of those guys, is probably the one who will command the least amount of shots and/or the time the ball is in his hands,” Brown said. “He’s shown the last two years that he’s a capable catch-and-shoot shooter, and if you leave him open, he’ll make you pay on the catch-and-shoot shot from the 3-point line. He shot 40-something percent from 3 in both years, so for us that is a little bit of a factor, making sure we put the right combinations on the floor that fit instead of just trying to throw guys out there because we think those guys can all score the best.”

Keon Ellis

Ellis came to the Kings on a two-way contract after going undrafted out of Alabama in 2022. He only played 16 games for the Kings as a rookie, but he appeared in 57 games last season, including 21 starts, to earn a standard NBA contract.

Ellis, a long and athletic 6-foot-3 guard with a 6-8 ½ wingspan, was a catalyst in Sacramento’s defensive improvement last season. He got most of his starts late in the season after Huerter and Monk went down with season-ending injuries.

The Kings ranked No. 18 in defensive rating before the All-Star break (116.1). They ranked ninth after the All-Star break (110.9) and sixth with Ellis in the starting lineup over the last 15 games of the season (108.8).

“Hopefully it can just flow right back into the start of this season,” Ellis said. “I just go out there with the playing-hard mindset and just try to make things happen, be in the right spot, so I think when you see a guy out there, giving it is his all, going hard, it only makes it easier on the next guy to be like, ‘OK, I see where he’s making all these extra efforts. Maybe I’ll make the extra effort as well.’ I think it just uplifts the team, so, yeah, hopefully I can just bring that spark.”

Brown acknowledged that having Fox, Ellis and Murray in the starting lineup gives the Kings three high-level perimeter defenders and allows Fox to take on a secondary assignment instead of defending the opposing team’s shiftiest guard.

“We put a lot of pressure on Fox, especially at the beginning of games, and that’s where a guy like Keon can step in — and that’s where he’s going to have a chance to step in — and you have a guy who, in my opinion, for as young as he is, navigates the pick-and-roll game extremely well,” Brown said.

“He’s longer than what you think, a little bit more athletic than what you think and quicker, so to start games at times, to have the luxury of having Keon out there, you can put Keon on the opposing team’s guard that’s going to have the most pick-and-rolls, the Ja Morant-type of style in the league, and now you put Fox on another guy, and then you change the matchup as the game goes along.”

Kevin Huerter

Huerter has started 134 of 139 games for the Kings over the past two seasons. He had a career year in 2022-23, averaging 15.2 points while shooting 40.2% from 3-point range to help the Kings end a 16-year playoff drought, but he slipped to 10.2 points per game and 36.1% 3-point shooting last season.

Huerter missed the last 15 games of the season after suffering a torn labrum against the Memphis Grizzlies on March 18. He recently resumed basketball activities and hopes to be cleared for full contact in mid-October.

“I feel good,” Huerter said. “I’m getting there. ... The last step for me is really just getting 5-on-5 full contact. I haven’t gone contact against a player yet. I haven’t been cleared to do that, but everything else. I’ve been 1-on-0 for four months now. ... Itching to get back and go against somebody else.”

Brown is looking forward to having Huerter back.

“He looks good,” Brown said. “He’s obviously chomping at the bit. It’s tough because he can’t do anything live and he even wears the red jersey like he’s Brock Purdy, even though right now he makes more money than Brock Purdy, but next year he won’t. He wants to be out here as much as he can and the tough part about it is his pace.

“... Keon brings stuff to the table that other guys really don’t. Kevin does as well. And one of the things that Kevin brings to the table is his pace, especially in the halfcourt. He comes flying off of DHOs (dribble handoffs). If he doesn’t get it, he knows how to space and space quickly. He’s a threat so he’s never going to be left open, which means there’s going to be more space for other guys on the floor. And similar to DeMar, as you get to know Kevin and watch him closely, you start to see, hey, he can pass the thing. Not only can he pass the thing, he’s got a great medium game, a great float game, a great pull-up game, and he can finish and he’s bigger than what you think, too, so there are a lot of things he brings to the table that others don’t. Just like I could say about Keon or Malik when it comes to that spot.”

Malik Monk

Monk bypassed free agency to stay in Sacramento on a new four-year, $78 million contract, saying he was persuaded in part by the love he feels from the city and the Kings organization.

Monk averaged a career-high 15.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and a career-best 5.1 assists last season. He was considered the frontrunner for Sixth Man of the Year for much of the season before suffering a season-ending MCL sprain in a March 29 game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Monk came off the bench in all 149 games he played for the Kings over the past two seasons, although he is usually on the floor to close out games in the fourth quarter. Monk has expressed his desire to start, but he maintains that he will accept whatever role is best for the team.

Many fans are clamoring for Monk to join the starting lineup alongside Fox, his childhood friend and former Kentucky teammate, but Brown likes the punch Monk brings off the bench.

“I’ve been fortunate, blessed, lucky, however you want to call it, to coach two of the best sixth men out there in Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs) and Andre Iguodala (Golden State Warriors),” Brown said. “They won eight championships between the two of them. Seven of them were won as sixth men.

“Being around two Hall of Fame coaches in Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, and to have the luxury of having that pop come off the bench, is something every team dreams of. We’re fortunate enough to have that luxury, and at the end of the day, it’s not about who starts stuff. It’s about who finishes stuff, and that will be a telltale sign in my opinion.”