Former NBA player Stephen Jackson used marijuana before hitting the court throughout his career, and at least one of his coaches was well aware.
The admission came during an appearance on the I Am Rapaport podcast.
“We’re in Utah and the drug test people are around, you know, to get our last drug test, so we can smoke, right? And Don Nelson, we talked about weed all the time, he was cool with talking about weed. We got our last test in Utah, right? So me and [teammate] Baron [Davis] are coming out the locker room just screaming, excited, right, with our last pink slip saying we could smoke for the rest of the season. And Don Nelson hauls ass down there giving us high-fives like, ‘Yeah, we can smoke now!’ It was cool, the fact that he knows what’s going on and off the court with his players, which was great, man. We enjoyed it. And that’s why we were a great team.”
As reported by The Fresh Toast, when it came to consuming prior to a game, it was a huge gamble as to how he would end up performing that day.
“Me personally, I’ve done a lot of shit before games sometimes and still was out there to go out there and be productive. I just gotta be real, you know, it’s been a couple games where I smoked before games and had great games. It’s been some games where I smoked before the game and was on the bench after three minutes, sitting on the sideline, saying, ‘Please calm down, this high has to calm down.’ I done shot three shots that went over the backboard.”
Currently, the NBA doesn’t allow the use of medical marijuana, and players may be tested up six times a year for cannabis use, so it’s interesting to hear that Former NBA Player Stephen Jackson Used Marijuana While Playing.
“A lot of guys do it because that’s the best way to relax,” he added. “You take so much stuff to get up for the games, and guys don’t like taking all those pills and stuff to heal. Go home, smoke your blunt, man. You’ll sleep good.”
