Ellis on ‘heartbreaking’ trade and moped accident
Former Warriors guard recounts the tumultuous end of Golden State tenure
If you ask Monta Ellis, the turning point of his career came on March 13, 2012 — the day he was traded from the Warriors.
After 6 1/2 seasons in the Bay, Ellis was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, an event he now calls “heartbreaking.” A second-round pick straight from a high school in a part of Jackson, Mississippi crawling with drugand gang-related violence, Ellis averaged 19.6 points and 4.4 assists per game in his time with Golden State. Between stints in Milwaukee, Dallas and Indiana, he never reached those averages again.
Out of the league since 2017, the 34-year- old Ellis now lives in Dallas, where he runs a coaching clinic called Ellis Elite. Last week, the Bay Area News Group caught up with Ellis, who, years later, opened up about feeling betrayed by the front office, an infamous mopedrelated accident, and the turbulent end of his Warriors tenure.
QUESTION >> Is it true that you found out that you were traded from the Warriors by watching ESPN? ANSWER>> Yes.
Q >> What was that like?
A >> Heartbreaking. It was the turning point of my career because I felt like I was owed the opportunity to know what was happening. And the killer part was I had just talked to them before I left the hotel and they told me that they weren’t going to trade me. We were a couple games out of the eighth spot and we were going to try to make a run. And so, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m cool with that.’ And then I leave from the hotel and get to the arena and I go in and one of my teammates, Dominic McGuire, he’s says, ‘Bro, you’ve been traded.’ I said ‘ No, bro, I haven’t been traded. They told me they weren’t going to trade me. I just got off the phone with them.’ He was like, ‘ Bro they just traded you.’ So he grabbed me, he said, ‘Look.’ He turned me around and (on the TV it) said ‘Breaking news, Monta Ellis has been traded.’ I then called my agent who didn’t tell me anything. So it was just messed up how they did it. And to be honest with you, I was kind of fed up with some of the things that were going on around there, with some of the players and some of the stuff that they were doing that wasn’t right. And it was kind of putting a damper on the locker room. But (the front office) tried to make it seem like it was me. But that one hurt, that killed me. I felt like I deserved better than that because I had given that organization everything I had, even from when they counted me out when I had my ankle injury from my moped accident. And I still was able to fight back from that and still be able to elevate my game every year I was there. And so for them to do that, and then for them to send me to Milwaukee, it was kind of like they were trying to stick it to me. Like they were trying to hurt me or something.
Q >> What sort of things were happening in that locker room that you were getting sick of?
A >> I can’t deal with anybody faking a laugh in my face and then throw shade
behind my back. I just can’t do that.
Q >> You mentioned the moped incident (that happened in 2008). It was reported then that you had lied to the organization and that you injured yourself playing basketball. Why did you feel the need to lie about it? A >> I was a young kid, I had just signed the biggest deal of my life. So that was my biggest thing was to be like, ‘ Man, I got to try to make it something basketball-related.’ So, I panicked. I said what I said. But then after I did that, I came back and I told them exactly what happened. I admitted it. I said ‘I’ll give you 2.5 (million dollars) back from the contract that I just signed.’ And so they suspended me for 57 games that they already knew I was going to miss anyway just so they could get another $500,000 so it could be $3 million versus ($2.5 million). And so that’s when our relationship turned.
( Note: Ellis was suspended by the Warriors for 30 games, but missed 57 in total with his ankle injury.)
Q >> When Warriors fans booed Joe Lacob on Chris Mullin night after you were traded, how did you feel when you saw that?
A >> I mean, to be honest with you, I felt happy and sad at the same time. I was happy that they did that and they supported me my whole life and that’s one reason why I love the Bay Area, I love the fans. I still got people in the organization I love. But it was also sad to me because it was Chris Mullin’s night, and he deserved to receive that accomplishment and everything to be pinpointed on him for that night. But, I mean, it was happy and sad at the same time.