Former NBA forward Stephen Jackson, aka Captain Jack, appeared on Michael Rapaport's "I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast" on Friday to talk about his playing days with the Golden State Warriors under Don Nelson, and revealed that he smoked weed before games on more than once occasion during his 14-year career.
Jackson said some days he felt it helped his performance, while other times he found himself shooting over the backboard and trying to calm himself down on the bench.
He told Rapaport (via CBS Sports):
"I can't speak for nobody else," Jackson said. "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."
Jackson added that Don Nelson was open to talking about weed with his players and then relived a moment in which he and Baron Davis passed their final drug test of the season in Utah, and Nelson was more than happy for them.
"This is crazy, nobody knows this story, so this is the first time somebody is hearing this story," Jackson said. "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 Baron 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 off the court with his players, which was great, man. We enjoyed it. And that's why we were a great team."
Rapaport also asked Captain Jack about marijuana use in the NBA and while he can't speak for everyone he noted that there's probably a higher percentage of guys that smoke than drink. Although, the drug policy is much stricter now than it was 10 years ago.
He added, the best way to relax after a game instead of taking painkillers was to go home, smoke your blunt and sleep good.
"Listen, man, one thing about basketball, it's no PEDs, no steroids, it's nothing like that," Jackson said. "From my experience in the league, players that I've been around, guys don't even really drink -- some guys do drink, some guys don't smoke. I think it's a higher percentage of guys that smoke than drink. I know coming in, especially in my time, everybody smoked. After games, when I came into the league, there was only one drug test. And that was in the beginning of the season, in training camp. You knew when it was coming. You could smoke the rest of the season. That was the good days.
"A lot of guys do it because that's the best way to relax," he continued. "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."
Click here to listen to Stephen Jackson's full podcast interview with Michael Rapaport.