One of the fun exercises we do every year at SB Nation is put together a mock draft in which the editors of the team sites act as the GMs of their teams. These mocks involve not just picks but also trades, and of course since it's all for fun and the stakes don't matter, there ends up being a lot more trades than would actually happen in the real draft. Still, I think it's a useful exercise to see what some teams might be thinking.

I wasn't necessarily thinking trade going into the SB Nation mock draft, but I did let everyone know that it was available, especially if I could simply move down and still get someone I wanted. I was happy to stay at the 8th pick if one of Kris Dunn, Jamal Murray or Buddy Hield was available, but alas, all three were taken before. Heck, even Denzel Valentine, one of the players I wanted to trade down for, was taken before 8th, which really surprised me.

And with the 11th pick, I still got someone I would have considered at #8, Timothé Luwawu. From my explanation of the Luwawu pick on Ridiculous Upside, which is hosting the SB Nation mock results:

I can't leave out the fact that I traded Rudy Gay in this scenario, as he's basically Sacramento's 2nd best player. However, I have a hard time seeing Rudy as a long term piece of this franchise, especially after how miserable he looked last year. With Rudy being allowed to leave after this season (he has a player option he will almost certainly decline), I felt it was time to get some value from him. It also allows Omri Casspi to step into a larger role, which I think he's ready for, and I also feel Knight will replace much of the offense that Rudy gave the Kings.

I also feel like the Luwawu selection will be a good one, especially under David Joerger. With Knight and Luwawu, the Kings have an incredibly athletic backcourt that could potentially be a force on both ends of the court.

It should be noted that we also did a mock draft where we didn't allow any trades which will probably be more representative of how the draft really unfolds, and those results will be posted on Ridiculous Upside tomorrow. I won't spoil how the entire mock went down, but I once again opted to help Sacramento's backcourt with the 8th pick and chose Providence's Kris Dunn. If Dunn really managed to fall to the Kings at 8 on Thursday, I'd be elated.

What'd you guys think of what I did? What would you have done differently? Let me know in the comments.