Hall-of-Fame NBA Coach Now a Marijuana Farmer in Hawaii

As a new episode of HBO’s Real Sports reveals, Hall-of-Fame NBA coach Don Nelson has traded in his clipboard for cannabis cultivation tools.

On the episode, the 79-year-old coach tells host Bryant Gumbel how he now cultivates crops of marijuana in Maui, Hawaii, for his personal use. Nelson, who is friends with Willie Nelson, has permission to use marijuana for medical reasons, and told Gumbel that he smokes every day.

“You’ve got to treat it like a baby,” Nelson said of his plants. “Water them, you’ve got to have music for them. You’ve got to bless them. It’s a whole process, I’m telling you.”

Nellie, as he is sometimes called, coached the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors. Curiously enough, Nelson, who was named coach of the year with the Bucks in 1983 and 1985, calls the marijuana he grows, “Nellie Kush.”

As a pro player, Nelson won five NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics following an All-American career at the University of Iowa.

Here’s a clip from Real Sports previewing Gumbel’s chat with the basketball Hall-of-Famer.

The episode debuted on HBO last night.

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Evan is a senior editor with InsideHook who earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and has called Brooklyn home since 2006. A fan of Boston sports, Nashville hot chicken and Kentucky bourbon, Evan has had his work published in publications including “Maxim,” Bleacher Report and “The Daily Mail.”