Drew Gooden stands to become a rich man if and when he declares for the NBA Draft.

“It’s not any guesstimate. He’s going to be a high pick,” Kansas University basketball coach Roy Williams stated Monday while announcing he and Gooden would hold a news conference at 4 p.m. Friday to reveal the 6-foot-10 junior’s decision about returning to KU or bolting to the pros.

“For a kid who’s 19, 20, 21 years old, the amount of money you’re talking about is unbelievable,” added Williams, who has spent the past two weeks talking to officials from 10 NBA teams about Gooden’s draft status.

Unbelievable definitely is a good way to describe the NBA’s rookie pay scale. As the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 Draft, the 20-year-old Gooden would pocket $10.4 million over three years. As the No. 5 pick, he’d earn $6.8 million. As the No. 10 pick he’d log $4.5 million.

Not exactly chump change.

“There’s a difference between eating that fast food and eating that filet every meal. That’s what you can do with some of that NBA money,” Williams said.

“They make more money per day and per diem than some of us make in a week. You ever try to eat $89 worth of food in one day? That’s hard! I mean think about it, $89 per day. They give it to you in cash. You leave on a 10-day trip they give you 10 times $89.”

Gooden now has a few days to ponder the pros and cons of KU versus the lucrative NBA.

It’s reminiscent of the week Williams took to consider an offer to coach at his alma mater, North Carolina, two summers ago.

“The similarity is I wanted people to give me some time, to leave me alone and let me think, let me look into it and get some information,” Williams said. “This information (salary figures), a lot of it is cut and dried. In that scenario it was all in my heart. I think what Drew would love to do is play at the University of Kansas next year and have it be in the NBA. I don’t think there’s any question about it.”

The only financial reason a top college senior-to-be like Gooden might stay is if he wanted to guarantee himself a top-three slot in the draft.

“There is a significant difference between (picks) 1 and 10. I’d have to see the salary scale, but I’d say it’s an $8-10 million difference,” Williams said.

The difference actually is $6 million.

Money-talk aside, it’s pretty obvious Gooden  he will not speak with reporters until Friday’s media session  in a perfect world would love to stay one more year.

“He’s enjoying life, enjoying being a college student,” Williams said. “He’s had a great, great time this year. He loves college basketball and his teammates. If somebody goes into college basketball with just the idea of making money in the NBA  and that’s their only goal  it’s a pretty easy decision. Some guys do that, say, ‘I’ll come in, play a year or two years and get outta here.’

“Drew came in with the idea of playing four years. His mother and father wanted him to play four years. They said it publicly that’s what they wanted him to do.

“There’s no price you can put on being a kid,” Williams went on. “I do place such a great value on Drew being a kid and enjoying life.”

Life in the NBA is not all fun and games.

“I’ve never coached a player that didn’t say later basketball stopped being fun (in pros),” Williams said. “I’ve never coached a player at Kansas or North Carolina who didn’t say college basketball is more fun than being a professional basketball player. But it’s more fun to go eat at a place where it costs a little more money than hamburgers for 99 cents.”