LOS ANGELES — In mid-March, sitting in front of a locker after USC’s season-ending loss to Arizona, Boogie Ellis could hardly speak, the emotion clogging words in his throat.
He had returned to USC for a super-senior season after testing NBA draft waters, the captain in search of a big final year to boost his pro stock. But the Trojans’ fortunes collapsed under a barrage of injuries, and Ellis was frequently in-and-out himself during USC’s frustrating 15-18 finish, telling the Southern California News Group in February “I really do feel like my life’s on the line.”
With his eligibility exhausted, Ellis went undrafted this week, despite a strong pre-draft ascent from the G-League Elite Camp to the combine. On Thursday afternoon, however, he received a long-awaited sliver of opportunity, his agent Derek Malloy telling the SCNG that Ellis was set to join the Sacramento Kings for next month’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
“Only if y’all knew how much I been through these last 5 years I just want to thank GOD for putting me in this position been through every emotion but it made me and built me for any situation that comes,” Ellis wrote on his Instagram, posting a picture of himself in a Kings jersey.
A San Diego native, Ellis spent two years at Memphis before transferring to USC in 2021-22, turning himself into a foundational piece in former Coach Andy Enfield’s program. He averaged 15.5 points per game across three seasons in a Trojans uniform, authoring a bevy of clutch moments, his work ethic consistently lauded as he honed his shot to the tune of a 42% 3-point clip on 7.2 attempts per game in 2023-24.
“He’s one of the greatest shooters I’ve ever coached, and I was in the NBA before college, so that says a lot,” Enfield said of Ellis in November.
He’ll face an uphill battle to officially make a roster, a tweener guard who measured shorter than 6-foot-1 at the NBA combine and isn’t known as a plus defender. But few guards coming out of the draft boasted as deep a catalogue of shot-making experience as Ellis, and he’ll have an opportunity to stick in the league with a strong showing come summer.
“I’m a Boogie fan,” an NBA scout, who had evaluated USC and spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Southern California News Group in the winter. “I just like how determined he is, and how gritty he is. He’s a smaller guard, but he does have some length. And, just like, he’s a natural leader out there.”