Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant on Thursday announced a partnership and sponsorship deal with the Weedmaps cannabis market and said he plans to use his platform to destigmatize marijuana use among athletes.
Durant has been an advocate for the benefits of marijuana in the past and has invested in cannabis-related businesses. It’s the farthest an active professional athlete has come to, especially one with Durant’s visibility.
“I think it’s time to address the stigmas surrounding cannabis that still exist in the sports world and globally,” Durant told ESPN. “This partnership will help us continue to normalize these conversations, as well as create content, events and more through our boardroom media network. This is just the beginning for us.”
Weedmaps does not sell marijuana directly, but it is an e-commerce platform that guides users to dispensaries. Durant refused to speak directly about personal marijuana use.
Marijuana is still banned by the NBA, but it exists in a decriminalized gray area. League rules currently require four random trials for marijuana per year, but those trials stopped informally when the league restarted in the Orlando bubble in 2020 and then did not return in the 2020-21 season.
Representatives from the league office and the players’ union told ESPN on Thursday that there is an ongoing dialogue on marijuana, but that there are currently no concrete plans to formally change the rule. The league is still conducting anti-drug tests and last month suspended Toronto Raptors base Jalen Harris for a year due to anti-drug policy violations.
Partly because of the sensitivity of the issue, forging the deal was a lengthy process. Negotiations with Weedmaps, which became a public company in June, between Durant and his business partner Rich Kleiman have lasted for the past six months. Other high-profile athletes have supported CBD products, including WNBA star Sue Bird, but none with Durant’s stature has delved into the marijuana space so far.
“There’s a changing culture and it takes a superstar like KD to accept that and help others not be afraid to discuss the benefits,” said former NBA player Matt Barnes, a marijuana advocate who has said who smoked weed most of his 14-year career. . “This has been a process. There have been meetings with the league and the union for several years and both parties have hired experts to investigate this. This is a big step.”
Disciplinary action for marijuana violations had slowed before the pandemic. The last player to be suspended for consuming marijuana was Thabo Sefolosha in 2018.
“I’m not going to use that as a badge of honor,” said Sefolosha, who didn’t play last season after 14 years in the league. “I was fighting internally to change the rules. It’s something that should have been dealt with a long time ago. I understand the league doesn’t want to promote it. I’m not one to advertise marijuana and it’s not something I do.” “I would encourage my kids to do it. I don’t want to send the wrong message. But it’s a happy substitute for the hardest drugs, the ones the team doctor could even give you, and alcohol.” and I had to learn this on my own. “
This is what Durant intends to address and plans to organize a campaign by implementing podcasts and video content under his boardroom media banner in the coming months. His hope, Durant said, is that some of his league mates will join him in discussing the benefits of marijuana.
Or as Durant said in the podcast “boardroom: Out of Office” posted on Thursday to announce the deal: “The curita has been scammed.”