Recently retired NBA veteran Matt Barnes sat down for a group interview with Bleacher Report, joined by three other former league vets who shared a common interest.
That interest? A passion for marijuana, including the opinion that it should be allowed in the league, with Barnes even admitting that he would smoke joints on game day.
Posted to YouTube appropriately on Friday, April 20, it was part interview, part smoke session as Barnes, Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin and Cuttino Mobley got high while discussing marijuana usage among NBA athletes.
Barnes admitted that he consumed marijuana frequently during his playing career _ from high school to the NBA and all levels in between _ and described his routine.
"I'm telling on myself, but I don't give a (expletive) now," Barnes told Bleacher Report interviewer Master Tesfatsion. "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," Barnes said. "All my best games I was medicated."
Barnes added that his dad used to grow marijuana, so he started smoking it when he was 14, saying he'd "steal it, like, fresh off the plant." That continued through his NBA career, which started with the 2002 NBA draft.
"It wasn't every single game, but in 15 years, it was a lot."
Barnes announced his retirement last December; he was with the Golden State Warriors at the time.
