NBA: Former All-Star used to encourage marijuana use by teammates

Chauncey Billups playing as a member of the Detroit Pistons. Photo / Getty Images

As several states in the US took big strides closer to the legalization of medical marijuana after November's presidential election, problems surrounding professional athletes' usage of marijuana as an alternative pain relief method remains far from resolution.

In the basketball world, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, New York Knicks president Phil Jackson, and ESPN presenter Jay Williams are just a few of the names that have publicly supported the use of medical marijuana for pain relief instead of prescription pills for professional athletes.

During an ESPN NBA Countdown segment on Saturday, former NBA All-Star point guard Chauncey Billups alongside fellow panelists Tracy McGrady, Jalen Rose and Michelle Beadle discussed the support of medical marijuana for athletes, along with how the NBA Players Association and the NBA should collaborate to let players use medical marijuana without violations from the league.

"For medicinal use, I think we absolutely need to have that conversation," Billups said. "The Players Association, they need to talk about that with the NBA, because there's a lot of science behind it... because we've been through a ton of injuries. I've seen a piece on Jason Williams, who was the No. 2 pick in the draft, that talked about him being addicted to oxycontin and pain pills, and it would have been much better and much easier thing to have marijuana as a relief."

Billups even went as far as to say that some of his former teammates' on court performances would improve if they had smoked marijuana before games. He said he encouraged them to use it a a way to remedy anxiety issues before a game. "I had teammates...I actually wanted them to smoke, they played better like that. It helped them focus in on the gameplan...I needed them to do that. I would rather them [smoke] sometimes than drink," he said.