Sports
I’m a former NBA first-round pick who made $4.4m in career earnings – I quit and worked in McDonald’s to ma… – The US Sun
EX-NBA center David Harrison has had to work at McDonald's to make ends meet after his NBA career came to an end.
The 7-foot center was selected at No. 29 overall by the Indiana Pacers during the 2004 NBA Draft.
The Pacers picked Harrison, 41, in the first round after he emerged as one of the best young rim protectors in the US.
The Tennessee native earned All-American honors and made the All-Big 12 first team as a freshman at Colorado before entering the NBA.
He then spent four seasons in Indiana, averaging 5.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 189 regular-season NBA games.
During that time, Harrison was involved in the infamous Malice at the Palace brawl between the Pacers and Detroit Pistons.
But Indiana opted not to re-sign the center in 2008.
After Harrison failed to secure a roster spot following a preseason spell with the Minnesota Timberwolves, 2008-09 would turn out to be the last NBA campaign of his career.
He played basketball in China over the next four years, but the former first-round pick would eventually find himself in a difficult financial situation.
In 2015, Harrison told Marc Spears he had lost nearly all of the $4.4million he had earned in the NBA.
In the meantime, he spent two weeks working at an Indianapolis-area McDonald's as he didn't have any source of income.
The restaurant's manager offered the ex-NBA hooper a job after his credit card got declined when he tried to buy his son, Dylan, a Happy Meal.
"I took the midnight shift on purpose," Harrison recalled
"I did two weeks of training. They told me I would be a distraction because I was.
"Every time someone would order, it would take them 40 minutes to order because they were asking me too many questions."
Harrison explained his house was already in foreclosure and he was close to losing his car, so he got the job to be able to feed his children.
"They don't care where I work. They just need to eat," he said.
But things have been looking up for Harrison since then.
The ex-NBA center tried to venture into the digital media industry, launching a mobile game application company Kage Media Group LLC.
More recently, joined an ownership group that created a digital asset and exchange platform for marijuana businesses, Token HiFi.
Harrison has been turning his life around with his three children providing him with plenty of inspiration to keep grinding.
"I want them to be able to be proud of their last name, like my dad made me proud," he told Andscape earlier in 2023.
"And that’s what I’m trying to do now in this aspect of my life."
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