C.J. McCollum and Adam Silver Talk White House Visits and Marijuana Use in the NBA

Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum has always been proud of his roots in the field of journalism. During his days at Lehigh University, the four-year NBA veteran was able to balance the responsibilities of leading his college basketball team while holding a job at the school’s newspaper, The Brown and White. Though McCollum chose basketball as his career path, he occasionally flexes his journalism skills with The Players Tribune, most recently in an interview with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. In the interview, the two discuss a variety of topics, from Silver’s secret Twitter account, to players skipping out on their White House visits after winning the NBA Finals.

It’s my view that if invited, our teams should go to the White House…that regardless of people’s personal or political views, I think that these institutions are bigger than any individual politician, any elected official…I will say though, even though I think that teams should make decisions as organizations, that I would also respect an individual player’s decision not to go.

The two also discuss the use of marijuana in the league, which is banned under the NBA’s substance abuse policy.

I don’t see the need for changes right now…It’s legal in certain states, but as you know, our players are constantly traveling and it might be a bit of a trap, to say we are going to legalize it in these states, but no, it’s illegal in other states and then players get in a position where they’re trying traveling with marijuana and we’re obviously going to get in trouble.

Watch the full interview above and for more NBA news, check out Nike’s new jerseys for the 2017-2018 season.