It's The NBA, Man... Everyone Smokes Weed: Kevin Durant Explains How The League Allowed Pot

NBA star Kevin Durant persuaded league commissioner Adam Silver to remove marijuana from the league’s banned substance list.

What Happened: During CNBC x Boardroom’s inaugural Game Plan sports business summit, Durant, who is also a cannabis advocate and entrepreneur, chatted with Squawk Box co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin about marijuana in the NBA.

When asked how he convinced Silver to consider such an important change, Durant replied: "Well, he smelled it when I walked in. So I didn't really have to say much, you know what I'm saying? He kind of understood where this was going... It's the NBA, man... everybody does it, to be honest. It's like wine at this point."

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Durant previously called Silver, urging him to remove cannabis from the list of banned substances. 

"I just felt like it was becoming a thing around the country, around the world... The stigma behind it wasn't as negative as it was before. It doesn't affect you in any negative way,” Durant said, adding that Silver agreed with him.

Durant, a forward on the Phoenix Suns, has been publicly advocating for cannabis over the last several years. In 2021, his Thirty Five Ventures partnered with cannabis tech platform Weedmaps MAPS to help further deconstruct the negative stereotypes associated with cannabis while elevating the conversation around the plant’s potential for athletes' wellness and recovery.

The two-time NBA Champion and Finals MVP also has a wide range of companies in his portfolio, including Coinbase Global Inc, Postmates, and OpenSea. As for marijuana, his Thirty Five was also invested in the cannabis company Dutchie.

See Also: David Letterman Tells Kevin Durant What Happened When He Smoked Weed Years Ago At A Yankees-Angels Game

Photo: Courtesy of Cyrus Saatsaz via Wikimedia Commons. Video on Twitter via CNBC.