Billups: Some ex-teammates played better after smoking weed

The National Basketball Association's stance on the use of marijuana as an alternative pain regiment has been brought back to the forefront recently after Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr admitted to using it to treat his back pain following surgery.

During Friday's NBA Countdown panel, former Finals MVP Chauncey Billups revealed that some of his former teammates would dabble in weed prior to games, which he had no problem with since it had a positive impact on their performance.

"I actually wanted them to smoke, they played better like that," he said. "Big-time anxiety, a lot of things that can be affected, that it brought them down a little bit, helped them focus in a little bit on the game plan. I needed them to do that. I would rather them do that sometimes than drink."

Billups suited up for the Denver Nuggets for a second stint from 2008 through 2011. Medicinal marijuana was legalized by the state of Colorado in 2000, and then for recreational use 12 years later.

Players can be fined $25,000 by the league for testing positive on a second drug test, with a third positive resulting in a five-game suspension. Frankly, Billups would prefer if there were no punishments at all, and for the NBA to embrace the fact that marijuana is safer than other harsher means to dealing with pain.

"For medicinal use, I think we absolutely need to have that conversation," Billups added. "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."

- With h/t to Yahoo Sports' Kelly Dwyer