photo by: Nick Krug

Former Kansas guard Brandon Rush waves to the crowd as his jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony.

One simple sentence from Brandon Rush’s halftime address to the Allen Fieldhouse auidence resonated Wednesday, the night Kansas clinched its 13th consecutive Big 12 title and Rush’s jersey found a new home on the wall: “I’m happy.”

Always glad to hear nice people say they’re happy. Rush, always a straight shooter, not to mention a pure one, doesn’t say that if he doesn’t mean it.

It’s nice to know Rush has not let playing time define his happiness. After being chosen by the Portland Trailblazers with the 13th pick of the 2008 NBA draft and being immediately traded to the Indiana Pacers, Rush played significant minutes in each of his first four seasons: 24.0, 30.4 and 26.2 with the Pacers, and 26.4 with the Warriors in 2011-12. His second season in the league was the only time he started more games (64) than he came off the bench.

His playing time dipped starting with his fifth season: 12.5 with Golden State, 11.0 with Utah, 8.2 with Golden State, 14.7 with Golden State and he’s averaging 18 minutes a game this season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He’s an unselfish teammate and easy to coach, factors in him never having trouble finding a job in the NBA. And when you manage to stay in the league as long as Rush has, you make a very nice living. By season’s end, Rush will have earned $22,675,676 in NBA salaries, according to figures listed on the terrific website basketball-reference.com, which lists a “may be incomplete” disclaimer with all of its salary information. That ranks Rush fifth among the 14 Jayhawks on NBA rosters as of Wednesday and will put him $47,787 ahead of Mario Chalmers, a free agent whose Achilles injury has left him without a team this season. Chalmers has healed and has had tryouts, but so far hasn’t hooked on with a team.

1 – Paul Pierce (Clippers): ……….$197,024,552

2 – Nick Collison (Thunder): …….. $57,993,990

3 – Darrell Arthur (Nuggets): ……..$25,757,663

4 – Markieff Morris (Wizards): $24,463,279

5 – Brandon Rush (T-Wolves): ……$22,675,676

6 – Marcus Morris (Pistons): ……..$18,338,781

7 – Andrew Wiggins (T-Wolves): …$17,269,920

8 – Cole Aldrich (T-Wolves): ……….$16,583,663

9 – Joel Embiid (76ers): ……………..$13,880,760

10 – Ben McLemore (Kings): ………$13,087,722

11 – Thomas Robinson (Lakers): …$12,611,701

12 – Tarik Black (Lakers): ……………$7,543,395

13 – Kelly Oubre (Wizards): …………$3,926,880

14 – Jeff Withey (Jazz): ……………….$2,779,454

*Source: basketball-reference.com