I wouldn't be surprised if this is at least considered if the pick falls outside of the top 3. But, seeing how top-heavy the draft is, I don't see a scenario where the Kings trade out of a top 3 pick.
naturally, trading down would depend on #1 where you finished in the lottery and #2 what players that you really loved were still on the board when your time came.
someone said the draft was top heavy - others have said you can get a building block in the first ten choices, unlike say, keegan's draft when there were only three really, really good players and then it was a crapshoot, depending on what you wanted and who you liked.
the kings took keegan because he was assured of having an "nba future". sharpe would have been a better pick, but a bigger gamble.
in that draft, i'd have started by telling detroit that i was going to select ivey unless they gave me something and then i WOULD have drafted ivey if detroit didn't offer enough and traded him (essentially trading down) to a number (#6? #7?) where i could also get a future first. and (depending on how much i liked the guy who they were going to draft for me at six or seven), i might trade down again (in THAT draft, if i could have traded down for a future #1 AND sharpe, i'd stopped there and gambled on him.
but, just as often happens, i think we can say that in THAT draft, those three players SHOULD have been selected in the order of sharpe, keegan, ivey (with other players in between). (btw, markelle fultz just signed a ten day with i think the bulls).
so, in THIS draft, i assumed that we MIGHT start at number three IF so, trade down to number five (for a future number one) and then again to number nine (for more future considerations).
naturally if THE guy you WANT is NOT taken first or second, you probably USE your pick and hope you are right.
But let's say the two guys who fit that "must have" designation for our "brain trust" (and i do use those words lightly) ARE selected one and two. Maybe you can get a guy you like just as much at five or nine as at three.
And of course you have to take into account the fixed salary scale for rookie draftees. It might be nice if someone assembled a list of pick numbers WITH three (or is it four) year rookie contracts that picks at each number would sign and that number would be counted against the cap for each year of the deal. I believe wemby's rookie deal STARTED at slightly over 10 million per.