Not Just Blowing Smoke: Udonis Haslem on Cannabis and His Partnership with the Flowery

Like most retired professional athletes, Udonis Haslem wears many hats in his post-playing career. He is an NBA analyst for ESPN, cohosts a weekly The OGs podcast with former teammate Mike Miller, and is helping to build an affordable housing project in Wynwood. He is also the vice president of basketball development for his former team, the Miami Heat.

But one side hustle stands out among the rest: Haslem has his own marijuana strain.

Last year, the Heat legend teamed up with the Flowery, a Miami-based, family-operated medical marijuana business, to release a one-of-a-kind cannabis strain: 40 OG. Haslem says he was struck by Flowery's commitment to producing high-quality cannabis products rather than solely focusing on the bottom line the way many of the bigger corporations do.

"You can't tell me anything about weed if you don't smoke it," Haslem quips.

During his two-decade NBA career — all spent as a member of his hometown Heat — Haslem was the epitome of hard work and determination on the court. After starring at Miami High and the University of Florida, the undersize (six-foot-six) big man went undrafted. A year playing overseas in France led to a free-agent deal with the Miami Heat. From 2003 until his retirement after the 2023 season, Haslem was a vital presence, earning the monikers OG ("original gangsta," for those who aren't hip to 1990s West Coast rap), Mr. 305, and the utterly straightforward U.D. The longest-serving Heat player in franchise history, Haslem can now look up to the rafters at the Kaseya Center and see his No. 40 hanging alongside his fellow Miami greats.

It was Haslem's grit and determination that led Flowery founder and CEO Elad Kohen to propose a partnership with the hardwood legend. It began with a chance meeting in 2017 — a time when the company was battling with the state of Florida to obtain its pot-growing license.

"When I got out of my car, I had a scent of cologne that they recognized well, and I think we all realized, 'Hey, we all kinda speak the same language,'" Haslem says now.

He and Kohen got to talking, and one of the guys in Kohen's group mentioned a potential opportunity to partner in a cannabis product. They parted with promises to reconvene when and if the opportunity manifested.

"It was a time and space when the world was against us, and then this guy comes, who everybody knows, and he's a legend in his own right, and he's known for being the Miami-bred fighter," Kohen recalls. "He was always my favorite player because every time somebody would pick on someone from his team, he would be the first one in their face — and I grew up with that mentality."

Haslem figured it would likely come to nothing. But two years later, the call came. He immediately connected with the Flowery, recognizing in the company's uphill battle to break into Florida's medical marijuana market a reflection of his own fight to carve out a place in the NBA.

He likens it to finding his "locker room" — with just a bit less athleticism and height.

"It wasn't people jumping on the phone trying to sell me on making billions of dollars," Haslem adds. "I was intrigued by the struggle they were going through. That's when I am at my best when I am able to get in the mud with people and grind things out."

From Court to Cannabis

Marijuana had always been a part of Haslem's Liberty City upbringing and, eventually, his NBA career. While many of his teammates leaned on traditional medicine to soothe the pain inflicted by the daily grind of pro basketball, Haslem turned to marijuana. Along with the pain relief, it helped provide balance to his life as he suffered the losses of his mother, father, stepmother, and brother.

"I get to the point in my NBA career where I'm saying, 'OK, you know you don't feel good all the time, your body's a little banged up,'" Haslem tells New Times." The first thing they want to do is they want to give you pills, they want to give you medicine, and I think in the long run, that just ends up hurting a little bit more when you talk about what's internally going on with your body. So a little bit of cannabis here and there, or an edible here and there — I found myself relaxing. I found myself sleeping better. I found myself feeling better waking up for practice the next day."

At the time, cannabis use was hush-hush and stigmatized across the league, Haslem notes. Players were subject to routine and random marijuana testing up until the "NBA bubble" in 2020, when the league created a biosecure environment to protect players from COVID-19 and suspended random testing for weed. Three years later, as part of a new collective bargaining agreement in 2023, the league agreed to cease penalizing players for using marijuana and removed cannabis from its drug-testing program.
"That was the best thing they could possibly do. Because after the NBA bubble, it was going to be hard to bring that back," Haslem says. "You know, guys were smoking like chimneys in the bubble. You take a bunch of guys, and you just put them in a hotel room away from their families, away from their friends, and the only thing they have is basketball for three or four months."

When the opportunity to work with the Flowery finally presented itself, Haslem looked to create something that would make a statement. He wanted to reflect his aggressiveness as a basketball player. "A tough, gassy medicine that will instantly make an impact once you are introduced to it," as he describes 40 OG.

"That's just who I am. That's how I play the game," he adds. "That's how I approach things. If you met me, you're going to know you met me. If you played against me, you're gonna know you played against me."

"I want you to be, like, 'This shit is fire. I'm gonna hit a couple of times because I got shit to do tomorrow.'"

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Unlike other companies that launch a weed brand with celebrities or athletes simply by renaming an existing strain, Kohen says the Flowery wanted to craft a unique strain for Haslem.

"With U.D, it's so natural,: How do you do a strain or brand for U.D.? It has to be real. We call him the OG, then we chose an OG strain," Kohen says of the product, an indica strain that, per the description on the Flowery's website, is "a special mix of the tightly held Motorbreath #4 & #1 bringing OG and Kush flavors to the forefront.... It brings a heavy OG Kush effect that is old-school in every way: Heavy behind the eyes with a euphoric descent."

Haslem, who considers himself a "marijuana snob," says he personally tested an array of samples and set out to understand the science behind them before he found the perfect strain.

"They were patient with me. They took my feedback," he says. "There are things I don't know. At the end of the day, I was buying weed in the hood in five-dollar nickel bags. Understanding the science was them introducing me to that. I had a chance to go down to the warehouse. I cut crop. I hurt my damn back. They didn't tell me I wasn't supposed to cut crop. My Rolex was sticky as hell. I thought I was going to have to pawn it. I didn't know if this shit was going to be worth anything anymore."

The strain officially launched last year — on 4/20 — with its own logo and merch, including a T-shirt, a jacket, and a fanny pack.

"Good Old-Fashioned Flower"

Asked for his own description of 40 OG, Haslem says it's an OG cross strain that will require the user to sit their ass down.

"That's what I'm doing when I'm smoking it," he tells New Times. "I'm sitting my ass down. I'm relaxing. I'm chilling, and nothing matters but that moment. I'm in that moment. I want you to be in that moment. Whatever that moment is."

Haslem cautions 40 OG buyers not to overdo it. At 28 percent THC, the indica hybrid packs a considerable wallop. "I want you to take about two or three puffs, and you got to put it down and back that ass up," he suggests. "I want you to be, like, 'This shit is fire. I'm gonna hit a couple of times because I got shit to do tomorrow.' I want that pressure."

"I want you to be, like, 'This shit is fire. I'm gonna hit a couple of times because I got shit to do tomorrow.'"

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While he's proud of his own strain — and the custom merch that comes with it — Haslem says what matters more is educating his community about marijuana and clearing up common misconceptions. He emphasizes that no one should go to jail for weed in 2025.

"It means the world to me, because I come from a place where it was frowned upon," he tells New Times. "Friends of mine were getting locked up for it. They were getting outcast for it. So to come into a place where I could tell my homeboys, 'Hey, we — you — can do it legally, and it's mine. You can get my stuff, and we don't have to hide it.'"

Moreover, Haslem says, cannabis has connected him with people he'd otherwise never have met.

"When I signed my first contract with the Heat, I had an apartment downtown in Brickell, and this building was full of medical students, doctors, and lawyers," he recalls. "They all smoked. I would have never met these doctors, lawyers, or med students if it wasn't for cannabis. They wouldn't have spoken to me, and I probably wouldn't have spoken to them. The tree has been a connector for me."

That said, if you want to smoke with the Heat legend, you'll have to roll the joints. "I'm a flower guy — good, old-fashioned flower. But miss me with the ceremonial part. I've gotten too bougie," Haslem jokes. "I don't like to roll anymore."