Some professional athletes venture into other opportunities during their career. They look for different ways to create income, or they might be interested in trying something new.

One former NBA player decided to get involved in the food industry toward the end of his career. Drew Gooden opened up a food franchise after his playing career was over. Take a look to see which franchise it was.

Drew Gooden’s promising path to the NBA

Gooden played his college basketball at the University of Kansas, and he had a great career there. He had a breakout season during his junior year. Gooden finished his junior season, averaging 19.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. He went on to lead the nation in rebounding that year and received multiple individual awards. The 6-foot-10 big man was named the Big 12 Player of the Year, a consensus first-team All-American, and was the NABC co-Player of the year. After his junior year, he went to declare for the NBA draft.

The Memphis Grizzlies selected Good fourth overall in the 2002 NBA draft. Gooden was highly rated and was one of the top big men in the draft coming into the league. Gooden spent most of his rookie season playing with the Grizzlies. In 51 games, he started in 29 of them and averaged 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds. Toward the end of the season, he was traded to the Orlando Magic. Gooden started in all but one game for the Magic toward the end of the season and averaged 13.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

After a pretty good rookie season, Gooden played for multiple teams throughout his career. He played in his only NBA Finals in 2007 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. During the regular season of that year, he was a starter and averaged 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

Drew Gooden never becoming an All-Star type of player

Though he was one of the best players in college, Gooden never became one of those players that were one of the best in the league. Gooden was the type of NBA player that would give a team solid numbers during games. But if you were looking for a dominant type of player, that was not Gooden during his time in the NBA.

Now he did know how to play his role when he played on certain teams. Looking at Gooden’s career, he never really got a chance to establish himself with a team. The longest he played with a team was with the Cavaliers playing with them for almost four seasons. Gooden finished his career averaging 11 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. After his NBA career, he played in the Big 3 League in 2018 and was the co-captain of 3’s Company.

Drew Gooden tapping into the food industry

While Gooden’s NBA career was coming to an end, he decided to open a Wingstop restaurant franchise in Florida. Gooden noticed he was making money outside of basketball, and he wanted to find ways to do so. In an article from frntofficesport.com, it talked about how Gooden has had success with the Wingstop franchise.

The article said that from 2012 to 2019, the restaurant was one of the most successful Wingstop locations in the United States. It seemed as though Gooden made a smart decision to get into the food industry. More and more professional athletes are finding ways to make more money to be financially secure after their playing career is over.