He suffered several unsuccessful stints in the NBA over three non-consecutive seasons but spent the majority of his professional basketball career playing overseas.

He helped lead the Parkrose High School boys' basketball team to the Oregon state semi-finals during his freshman year.

Ellis moved back to California with his father and the two settled in Orange County, where he caught the eye of Gary McKnight, the boys' basketball coach for the nearby Mater Dei High School.

He demonstrated both dominant offensive and defensive performances on the court, excellent shot blocking skills and was noted for being considerably quick and agile for his age.

Ellis and company replicated their previous 30–1 record during the 19867–87 season and bagged their third straight CIF Southern Section 5-A title.

LeRon Ellis won a series of prestigious awards that season while averaging 22.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and a 54% field goal shooting percentage.

[4] Ellis spent the summer of 1987 playing in the U.S. Olympic Festival basketball games for the West team before entering the NCAA.

[18] At Kentucky he was a highly regarded incoming freshman that Wildcats head coach Eddie Sutton considered to be the next Sam Bowie.

[19] LeRon Ellis played a secondary role, mostly coming off the bench, behind center Robert Lock and power forward Winston Bennett during his freshman season.

[20] However Ellis did manage to break into the starting lineup several times, making his debut as a starter on January 31, 1988, against Notre Dame where he enjoyed a then-career high of 14 points and five steals.

LeRon Ellis made local headlines at the start of his sophomore year when he became the first African American inducted into the University of Kentucky's Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.

Offensive and defensive stars Ed Davender, Robert Lock and Winston Bennett graduated from school; the Wildcats' MVP Rex Chapman left school early to enter the 1988 NBA draft; sophomore standout Eric Manuel was suspended for the entire season from playing basketball and potential franchise recruit Shawn Kemp was transferred out of the university before the start of the season.

[26] Kentucky's basketball program was essentially put into the hands of the inexperienced sophomore LeRon Ellis and freshman Chris Mills.

[33] Ellis was keenly interested in transferring to UNLV but had a sudden change of heart after discovering that their basketball program was under NCAA investigation and could possibly face sanctions similar to the University of Kentucky.