Fresh from his gold-medal performance with USA Men's Basketball at the Tokyo Olympics, Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is making more moves in cannabis.
On August 19, the 6-foot-10 hoopster announced his company Boardroom is teaming up with the popular cannabis marketplace website, Weedmaps.
"We're encouraged by the opportuity in the cannabis industry," Durant told USA Today. "Partnering with a tech leader like Weedmaps is a game-changer. Together, we plan to work to normalize the way the plant is perceived. It's crazy that there's still a stigma around it.
"This is an industry that's seeing incredible growth and is showing no signs of slowing down," the former MVP added. "There's still so much untapped in the market, especially as more states move towards legalization and more studies show that cannabis has real wellness and recovery benefits."
Weedmaps has agreed to become a sponsor of Boardroom and will add a sports/wellness section to their site.
Kevin Durant: "Partnering with a tech leader like Weedmaps is a game-changer. Together, we plan to work to normalize the way the plant is perceived. It's crazy that there's still a stigma around it."
Durant's manager and co-owner of Boardroom and the investment firm Thirty Five Ventures Rich Kleiman noted that the deal was "a long time in the works because of the subject matter and Kevin being at the forefront of the business and him deciding to make such a big public partnership with a company like Weedmaps. We both agreed it was the right time and it was the right business."
It's unusal for an active player in any of the professional leagues to sign on with a cannabis company. If anyone in the NBA was going to do this, it would be Durant, the league's most notably pro-cannabis player. In 2020, he stated: "Everyone on my team drinks coffee every day. The guys go out for wine after games or have a drink every now and then. Marijuana should be on the same level. I just think it should be taken off the banned substances list. It's not harmful to anybody. It only can help and enhance and do good things."
The sweet-shooting forward is known to toke 24/7. Sportswriter Kevin Sullivan has said about Durant: “He smokes even more weed than you would think. I was at his house at one o’clock in the morning. The entire place just reeked. He doesn’t have a girlfriend. He doesn’t go on crazy vacations. He doesn’t do anything other than hoop. Like nothing. He’s boring as hell. So going out to him is just blazing.”
Durant has been previously involved with the software company, Dutchie.
Weedmaps went public in June when it merged with a SPAC and joined the Nasdaq. The stock (MAPS) is currently selling for $2.94 per share. The company was founded in 2008 by Justin Hartfield and Keith Hoerling.
