INDIANAPOLIS — Brandon Rush fakes a drive, steps back, buries a fade-away three and walks off the court.

“Yeah,” a Pacers assistant says. “Hit that one, stop, then go buy a lottery ticket.”

Rush laughs off the comment, but luck doesn’t have anything to do with it. He can flat-out shoot.

The Pacers’ morning shoot-around ended maybe 10 minutes earlier, but Rush, along with All-Star swingman Danny Granger, is putting in extra time — they are the last two on the court. Rush has been knocking down shots since the practice started.

But this story starts before then.

Rush’s dream of playing in the NBA took its first step toward reality on June 26 last year when his name was called in the 2008 NBA Draft. Selected 13th by the Portland Trail Blazers, he was promptly traded for former Arizona guard Jerryd Bayless, picked two spots ahead of Rush by the Indiana Pacers.

Rush didn’t care. He was playing in the NBA.

“It really hit me when I got drafted,” Rush said. “When I was going through that whole process — to hear my name called and know that I’m going to be in this league for a while — that was special.”

Since then, he has tried to settle into a role he is admittedly still not used to. The Pacers had Granger, who is one of the best wings in the league, slotted into the position Rush is used to playing. More than that, though, there just wasn’t room for Rush in the starting lineup. That had never happened to him before.

His uneasiness at the prospect of coming off the bench showed early. Rush averaged nearly eight more points in the five games when, because of injuries, coach Jim O’Brien was forced to put him in the starting lineup.

“I’ve never come off the bench before,” Rush said about the discrepancy in his numbers. “This is my first time ever experiencing it. I guess it’s that comfort zone. As a starter you hit your first couple of shots and really get into that flow. Coming off the bench, you come in and miss a couple and get taken out. You really don’t know when — if — you’re coming back in.”

Lately Rush’s minutes have been cut even more with the return of Pacers guard Mike Dunleavy from an injury that kept him out for the first half of the season. But Rush says he knows he belongs in this league, citing Granger as an example.

“In the future I want to be a Danny Granger type,” Rush said. “When he was a rookie he was going through a lot of the same things I’m going through right now. You know, he just got better and better every year. I want to have that kind of career.”

Careers, though, take time. Rush has demonstrated the potential to be a lethal scorer in the NBA. In his five starts this year he has averaged 13 points a game, and scored a career-high 22 against New Jersey. But he is still just a rookie.

“They got me doing things I never thought I would do,” he said. “I’m getting McDonald’s every morning for the guys, singing happy birthday to everybody, dancing and stuff. It’s a big difference.”

But misery loves company, and Rush has plenty of that. Four of his former Kansas teammates were drafted along with Rush on that night in late June.

Among them was point guard Mario Chalmers, who was in Indianapolis Friday for the same reason Rush stayed late at practice that morning. Chalmers’ Miami Heat were set to take on Rush’s Pacers that night. Rush said it was a dream come true for all of them.

“It’s one of those things we talked about over the years,” Rush said, “being able to play each other in the NBA. It’s a lot of fun; we’re always joking with each other. You definitely root for them.”

Though the friendship is still strong — Rush took Chalmers out for a steak dinner the night before the game — both know that it’s all business once they get on the court.

“It’s fun to go up against a guy like Brandon,” said Chalmers, who has started all 47 games at point guard for Miami. “But at the same time we’re going to make each other work hard for everything we get.”

Chalmers, who averages 31 minutes per game compared to Rush’s 20, plays a major role for the Heat, one that he described as “just trying to get everybody involved in the offense, keep us going on defense and really bring that energy.”

His importance to the Heat was exemplified early in their game against Indiana. The Pacers won the tip, but a quick turnover led to the Heat’s first possession. Less than 30 seconds into the game, Chalmers helped the Heat get on the board. He was forced to the baseline but found Dwyane Wade in the middle for a 15-foot jumper and his first of five assists.

A few possessions later, Chalmers took advantage of a weakness in the Pacers defense. He sliced through three Pacers defenders — all above 6-foot-9-inches — for an easy left-handed layup. It was a play Rush saw coming.

“I’ve just got to pick up our system and how we play defense,” Rush said at lunch before the game. “With Self it was just blitz everything. ... With coach O’Brien it’s jamming everything, trying to force the guy with the ball to the baseline. It’s kind of tough because you open up the gate, straight to the hole, for a great offensive player.”

Chalmers’ inexperience showed shortly after the layup. Seven minutes into the first quarter, Chalmers was forced to check out because of foul trouble. With Chalmers able to play only a minute and a half in the second quarter, the Heat’s deficit quickly grew from three to 17. Despite logging only 13 minutes in the game, Chalmers tallied a respectable nine points and five assists.

“You can go on and on about somebody’s impact,” Wade said about Chalmers’ foul trouble. “We had guys come in who should’ve been able to step in and do the job, but you always miss a guy like that when they’re not on the floor.”

Wade’s relationship with Chalmers is an interesting one. Wade, who was one of the stars of this summer’s Olympic gold-medal-winning Team USA, was coaching Rush at every possible opportunity. He would retreat down the floor to talk to Chalmers on the bench during free throws and talk to him on the court during timeouts. Whenever the two were together on the bench they would sit next to each other and run imaginary plays with their hands, pointing out spots on the floor and using their hands to make phantom cuts to the hole.

“Dwyane, you know, he’s the one that took me under his wing at the beginning of the season,” Chalmers said. “He’s just tried to show me the ropes, make the game a little bit easier for me. That’s the person I go to when I’ve got to ask questions ­— stuff like that. He’s my vet.”

A similar relationship has evolved with Granger and Rush.

“I try to emulate his game,” Rush said. “The coaches want me to do that and I want to do that for myself because he’s a great player — he’s an All-Star now — and I want to be at that level.”

It’s easy to mistake the two on the court. Granger, a 6-foot-9 swingman out of New Mexico, has a few inches on the 6-6 Rush, but their frame — and game — are eerily similar.

Granger, the Pacers’ first-round pick in the 2005 draft, has developed from a reserve and emergency starter into one of the top players in the league, averaging more than 25 points per game.

Rush, at the moment, is trapped in the reserve and emergency starter role, as Granger was in his rookie season, but his numbers hover right around what Granger put up that first year.

“It’s a different level when you’re going against all-stars every night,” Rush said. “But I’m picking it up.”

He doesn’t have to go buy a lottery ticket, like his coach suggested. He’s already won it.

— — Edited by Grant Treaster