Brandon Rush knew he was traded but had to pretend he wasn’t. An alleged kidney ailment ruined Darrell Arthur’s shot at becoming a lottery pick. Mario Chalmers’ guarantee of being a first round selection faded into the New York City night.

It was all part of a wild NBA Draft on Thursday evening that saw a school record five Kansas basketball players selected in the draft’s two rounds — all of whom ended up on different teams from the ones that originally drafted them.

Seniors Darnell Jackson and Sasha Kaun joined Kansas’ three underclassmen as draft night picks. Jackson went No. 52 to Miami, while Kaun was taken at No. 56 by Seattle. Both would later be traded to Cleveland.

“I’m happy for our guys,” said KU coach Bill Self, who watched the draft at his house with several current Jayhawks. “I’m a little disappointed a couple of them fell past where they were told they would go.”

Of the three Kansas underclassmen, only Rush was taken near where he was initially projected. The Portland Trailblazers drafted him at No. 13, then turned around and traded him to the Indiana Pacers, a team that currently lists his brother, Kareem, on its roster. Rush was the only KU player taken in the lottery, which is categorized as the top 14 selections.

In Rush’s first interview with ESPN, he wore a Portland hat, despite knowing he would wind up with Indiana. Since the trade hadn’t been announced, however, he had to act like he was still with Portland.

Finally, the deal was announced, and Rush gave his second interview of the night.

“My reaction is the same,” Rush told ESPN of being traded. “I feel I can still do the same thing to help Indiana win. I think with the coach they’ve got there, he’s a defensive-minded coach.”

After that, the evening began to unravel in unusual fashion for Arthur and Chalmers.

ESPN reported Arthur had an undisclosed kidney issue and declined to undergo the lab work for NBA teams, scaring several teams away from drafting him. According to Arthur, however, his most recent blood test for the Washington Wizards came out fine.

“I guess those guys never contacted anybody,” Arthur told ESPN. “Everything else has been cool. My health has been good so far.”

Instead of being selected anywhere from 10th to 18th, Arthur fell all the way to No. 27.

He was traded from New Orleans to Portland to Houston before finally ending up with Memphis in the wee hours of the morning.

“Based on what I saw with Shady, word did not get down to other teams that it was normal, as they were still going on a previous test,” said Self, who noted that Arthur’s tests were fine while he was at KU. “If that’s the case, then somebody really dropped the ball. Somebody really cost him a lot of money.”

Meanwhile, Chalmers, who remained in the draft because he was told he would be a first round pick, slipped to the second round. One draft projection had Chalmers going as high as No. 12 before the evening began. But the Minnesota Timberwolves selected him at No 34 before trading him to the Miami Heat. Chalmers joined Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, who was drafted No. 2 overall by the Heat.

Memphis’ Derrick Rose, who scored 18 points against Kansas in his team’s national championship loss, went No. 1 overall to the Chicago Bulls.

Self said he was disappointed that Chalmers did not go where he was told but happy about where Chalmers ended up.

“I don’t know if he could have picked a better franchise to go to,” Self said. “I don’t know if it will be the immediate money that the family was hoping it would be, but in the long term, it could be helpful for his career.”

As the 13th pick, Rush is slated to make more than $3.1 million during the next two seasons based on the NBA’s rookie pay scale.

By being selected at No. 27, Arthur will earn about $1.7 during the next two seasons. Both players have two-year guaranteed contracts with a team option for a third year.

With Chalmers slipping to the second round at No. 34, he will have to earn a spot on a team’s regular season roster in order to gain a contract. So, too, will his new teammate, Jackson.

Rush led the Jayhawks in scoring at 13.3 points per game for last season’s national champions. Together, the three underclassmen accounted for 38.9 of the Jayhawks’ 80.5 points (48.3 percent) and were the team’s top three scorers.

Of the five Jayhawks taken, only Kaun knew where he would play coming into the night. He has already signed with CSKA Moscow and will play in Russia for at least the next two seasons while the Cavaliers retain his rights. At that point, Kaun could opt out of his contract to join the NBA.

Kaun, who will leave for Russia on Sunday, said he was worried when his teammates slipped so far in the draft, but relieved when they finally did get taken.

“I’m so happy that five of our guys got picked,” he said. “It kind of shows how big the program is and how many good players go through here.”

— Edited by Rustin Dodd