Although it may be hard to remember now, there was once a time when the Golden State Warriors, before the days of Stephen Curry began, were once not considered in their current dynastic light but were rather more of an underdog. The “We Believe” Warriors, as they came to be known, lit the Bay Area on fire after their upset win vs the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs despite being the eight seed to Dallas’ one seed, occurring in 2007, two years before Curry was even drafted by the franchise.
One key member of that team was none other than small forward Matt Barnes, who appears to have some fond memories of those days, recently stopping by Paul George’s Podcast P With Paul George, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, to share some of the wilder aspects of that era of Warriors basketball.
“We won that series against Dallas and you would have thought we won the championship,” said Barnes, per Podcast P with Paul George on YouTube. “We was in the streets, before we get to Snoop, Jack (Stephen Jackson) lived in the same building as Nelly (Don Nelson) but Jack’s on like the 12th floor, Nelly’s the whole roof. So we go down there pre-party at Jacks, go up there, and as soon as we walk in, this is our coach by the way, “fellas Woody is in the back rolling joints.” what the f— huh like I didn’t know that he didn’t give a f— that everyone knew. So we go back there and Woody Harrelson’s rolling joints and we’re back there smoking joints with Woody Harrelson bro it was unbelievable.”
Barnes went on to share some memories involving legendary rapper Snoop Dogg.
“We bounce, we go to the club and then Snoop hits us up, he was in town,” said Barnes. “He said nephew come through. So me, Baron (Davis), Jack (Stephen Jackson), and my sister went to the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. We go in there and, this is right when the Blue Carpet dropped, so we were watching the animated version of the Blue Carpet smoking.”
A different era of the NBA
Back in those days, of course, the NBA tested for marijuana, meaning that Barnes and his Warriors teammates were sidestepping some league rules in their celebration.
