Matt Barnes: “We’d have shootarounds, I’d go home, smoke a joint. Take a nap, eat. Then go to the game.” ? (via @BleacherReport)pic.twitter.com/LeOlSTeAiV
— Leading NBA (@LeadingNBA) April 20, 2018
In honor of 4/20, Bleacher Report got a number of former athletes together for a series of roundtables on marijuana in sports. For the NBA Roundtable, former players Cuttino Mobley, Matt Barnes, Al Harrington and Kenyon Martin passed around a few blunts, while discussing the role that marijuana has played in their lives, both during and after their respective playing careers.
Barnes, a Warrior from 2006-08, and 2016-17, revealed that he has been playing basketball high his entire life, and broke down his pre-game ritual that almost always involved smoking.
“My whole life really,” Barnes said when asked if he’s smoked before games. “From high school to college to the pros.
“We’d have shoot around. I’d go home, smoke a joint, take a nap, wake up, take a shower — shower was important, shower would wake me back up — eat, and go to the game.
“All my best games I was medicated…It wasn’t every single game but in 15 years, it was a lot.”
Martin said he never smoked before games, except for one time.
“We were playing in Indiana one day, I wasn’t feeling well, I had a hamstring or a hip [injury] or something,” said Martin, a former NBA All-Star. “So I smoked. I wasn’t going to play originally. So we got to the arena, I was like ‘I feel good.’ I went and told the trainer I’m gonna go today. I went out there and had a great game.”