2002 Big 12 Player of the Year and sports broadcaster for Comcast, Drew Gooden was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2002 NBA Draft, starting his career as a power forward and center. Gooden has since played for several teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards, which he retired from in 2016.
Gooden was named the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2003, the NABC co-Player of the Year in 2002 and the Consensus first-team All-American in 2002. He started playing basketball in his high school and college years. It is at University of Kansas that he led the nation in rebounding in 2002 and was named the NABC national player of the year: in honour of his achievements, his jersey number was retired by the university. His journey of success continued to the NBA where he won the 2007 NBA Eastern Conference Champions with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
After retiring from basketball, Drew went back to the University of Kansas to complete his communications degree before entering into the business world as a restaurant owner and entrepreneur. Drew was in the NBA for only 14 seasons but he managed to excel with every team for whom he played: he continues to do excellent work off the court, commenting on games for NBC and Comcast.