This month, we caught up with retired NBA Champion Matt Barnes who played 14 seasons in the league. His ability to bring his energy and focus to the court was seen on a number of teams from the LA Lakers, Golden State Warriors and the Sacramento Kings just to name a few. His unapologetic honesty and loyalty to himself as well as who he works with shined through on the court and continues to be seen through his philanthropy, his skincare brand HUE For Every Man, the cannabis industry, as well as his focus on social justice. With the confluence of COVID-19 and the movement of #BlackLivesMatter, he continues to be at the forefront of ensuring that voices are heard and that people understand the importance of voting at the local, state and national level for changes to be made. He has lent his voice to rally's in his hometown of Sacramento for George Floyd as well as Stephon Clark. We talk about this as well as his successful podcast All the Smoke on SHOWTIME, his enterprises and the upcoming NBA season and playoffs and the importance of sports as we navigate challenging times.
ATHLEISURE MAG: We just wanted to kick it off that we’re excited to be talking with you about your basketball career, your skincare brand as well as the current state of things that are taking place right now. We’ve always enjoyed seeing you and have been following your career since you got into the league and how unapoligetically authentic that you are as a team player and someone that plays hard and how you use your platform to benefit others and to just bring awareness to the forefront.
MATT BARNES: I appreciate that very much. I try and I enjoy it so thank you.
AM: Of course! When did you fall in love with the game of basketball and what was the moment that you realized that you wanted to play in the NBA?
MB: I’d probably say that I fell in love with the game of basketball – hmm. I actually grew up as a football fan. Football was the sport that I was better in and naturally more gifted in. But I continued to grow so basketball, I kind of picked it up and started taking it more seriously probably around 7th grade. That’s when I started really playing a lot more. But back then, we just played, it wasn’t so much working out. It was just another sport that I took seriously. It kind of took me to being lucky enough to make it to the NBA.
AM: You played on a number of teams with amazing athletes. What do you feel your legacy is in terms of the sport?
MB: Just a real guy that was a great teammate. I played as absolutely hard as I could and I never took a play off, never took a game off and I left it all on the court.
AM: In your opinion, when a player is going on in their career, what is the process like when you realize that you’re going to retire and that you’re about to transition to that next phase of life and did you find that hard?
MB: My retirement was kind of subtle. I had just signed a new contract for 3 years at the beginning of the season. I had actually just retired and it was actually just a perfect storm of winning a championship although it didn’t really pan out the way that I had planned it but, winning a championship and missing my kids – I mean, I was going through a divorce at the time when I wasn’t able to see my twin sons as much as I wanted to. I figured that I had gotten 14 years in the NBA and I wasn’t supposed to be there. I figured it was time to transition and to see what was next. I was actually excited about my transition so I ended up retiring at 37.
But I started to think about business and what was next. I mean, the average NBA career is only 3 years and I beat that. At about year 8 or 9 when I was in the NBA, I started thinking about what’s next. So I started investing in things that I kind of enjoyed, that I liked, that I could use and that I could promote. Most people think that kind of stuff happens fast – they don’t realize how long the process is until if the company actually makes it and until you start making some real money off of it. A few business decisions that I had made 4 or 5 years prior with me being in my final season when I had made the championship started coming into fruition and showing a little bit of money, so that’s when I said that now was the time to retire. My transition has been smooth for me, luckily. I’ve been able to transition into media, then social justice and all the things that I am passionate about along with first and foremost, being a single father of 3 kids. I coach my kids, and I am a very hands on dad with my 18 month old son, so retirement has been amazing and I feel like, I’m going to be able to have an impact on the world post-career than during my playing career.
AM: We love seeing you as an analyst on ESPN for The Jump (we recently had Rachel Nichols as our cover for issue #51 earlier this year) and Get Up. What do you like about sports broadcasting?
MB: What I like to do and why I got into the space, is to give them the other side from a players point of view. From what we’re thinking with 2 mins to go in the fourth quarter of a big game or overtime of a big game. How we deal with injuries or how we deal with family and travel. Like, you can be a great reporter, but would never be able to give that kind of insight or detail because you’ve never played. I think as a player, it’s our duty to give the raw and real integral details of what makes our job so unique and so special. I see these days that so often so many people that have never played the sport, want to disrespect people and talk crazy about people and kind of don’t appreciate how hard it is for us to be in that position in the first place. You know what I mean – to be a professional that’s like 1%. You have a better chance of being struck by lightening than being in the NBA. To give a clear cut understanding of what it’s like to walk in those shoes and then to be able to also talk about it for the first time – well not for the first time, it’s slowly but surely becoming more popular to have African American men that are able to get our point across. They don’t have to tell our stories anymore. You know, there are so many guys that have their platforms now that have a voice and they can tell our own stories now and sports is just part of it.
AM: What led you to being a part of HUE For Every Man which is a natural, multi-cultural brand. What stars aligned to do this and why was it so important that you wanted to be attached to this?
MB: I was always known during my career for having the best haircuts and cleanest hairline.
AM: This is true.
MB: I mean my hair, when I was approached by HUE and I found out first and foremost that it was a great product line, but then Jessica Estrada (CEO of HUE For Every Man), she has been amazing. She pours her heart and soul into this company. She’s a blue collar worker and that’s what I was in the NBA, so part of me really wanted to help her to fulfill her dream and to get this off the ground. I wanted to see what we could really do with it. On the multi-cultural side, I’m Italian and Black. Now more than ever, we’ve been divided and so many things are targeted for either a white audience or a Black audience. There’s no real in between and there are a lot of people who are in between these days. There are a lot of biracial people out there. So really, the message for every man is that at the end of the day, we’re all men, we’re all human and it kind of speaks to more of an understanding of what this country needs right now.
AM: What are your 3 must haves that are go to products within HUE For Every Man?
MB: I use the pomade but my favorite product is the awakening mist. Because, I’m a cannabis user and I smoke throughout the day and the awakening mist is always something that refreshes me. Obviously, it helps my skin and I really enjoy it and I give it to all my friends and they really appreciate it so those are my 2 favorites along with the shampoo and the conditioner. The conditioner has a really special smell to it that I really like. Most people, when you get a celebrity or an athlete, they attach their name to it and it may not even be a product that they use everyday. I’m such a person that has always been real and true and I speak my truth. This is something that I really believe in and something that I really use and I want to make it work.
AM: Are there new products that are about to launch that you can tell us about?
MB: I’m also going to get into the CBD skincare line. I’m an advocate of cannabis and realizing how amazing CBD is and educating people on the plant as a whole, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to jump into the space. I’ve been told that I have nice skin, so it just made sense and I also realized that there are not too many people in this space that talk to my demographic. Skincare is something that we care about, but it’s not really spoken on. So if I make it with the movement to make it cool to care about what your appearance is as many people think of it as something that only women do. Men care just as much about their appearance as women do. So, if we can do something for lines and get people on a cleansing routine, moisturizing and realizing how important moisturizing is for your skin. It’s on a personal level, but it’s also on an educating level. We need to let guys know that this is the only face that we have. You have to take care of your skin and your appearance.
AM: We recently started listening to your podcast All the Smoke with you and Stephen Jackson, it’s such a clever show. How did you come about creating the concept, the two of you deciding to work together and what’s your process like in terms of booking the people that come on your show?
MB: We were former teammates and he’s one of my closest friends. We were both respectfully working with ESPN and FOX Sports. We would always get people on social media asking if we would do something together, but we were working for our networks. One day I said that we had to do something together. With me being with ESPN/Disney and FOX – we need to kind of walk the line, but I know that the podcast – even though I didn’t really know what it was, I knew that people felt it would really speak to them. He and I would be good at. We tried it and SHOWTIME took a chance on us not really knowing what we were capable of and we struck gold! We wanted to come in as a sports podcast because obviously, that’s what we’re known as. We also wanted to shift more towards culture as a whole.
We wanted to humanize our guests and let them know the other side of their favorite celebrity, athlete, musician or whoever it may be. Everyone already knows what we’re known for. I play basketball, I rap or I play football – you know that, but what are they really like off of the court? What are they in to, what are their day to day lives like – so humanizing people was something that I wanted to do. Through our long careers, we’ve been able to make a lot of friends and connections. The majority of our guests – all of them, we have booked them ourselves based off of personal relationships as well as our ability to being real. A lot of our guests will somewhat let their walls down and really freely and comfortably speak to us. It’s worked.
AM: Well 2020 has been an interesting year between us quarantining with COVID-19, #BlackLivesMatter, tackling social justice issues and the 2020 election that is around the corner. In looking at your Instagram, you’re out there on the forefront. How important is it for you to use your platform, to push for changes and to get other people to raise awareness regardless of people’s skin tones to ensure that this movement keeps progressing?
MB: I think it’s important. I experienced a lot of racism growing up and it culminated in high school where my school was vandalized and the building was nearly burnt by the KKK. I faced racism growing up and I have always been really sensitive to the subject. Just to see the current state of America, we have never been more divided. Things have continued to happen and it’s almost normalized to where you think that this is normal – Black people being killed now. It’s unfortunate but it has been happening so much. I think what happened with George Floyd obviously boiled not only our country but the whole world to say that we have had enough. We’re upon a big change and as someone who has always been vocal, I am speaking on different matters and this is just something that I am very passionate about. I feel like that this is the first time in over 400 years that the world hears us and particularly the United States. So now, we have to have a plan and me using my platform, showing people what I am doing and trying to educate people. I think that we have to have a plan of intelligence. Now that they are listening, we have to know what we want and the only way to get what we want is to vote. It’s not just about voting for the president, it’s about your local level. People don’t know that most laws are made and passed on the local and the state level. Just continuing to educate people, trying to do my part and getting my friends to help and really understand the power of our community and when we come together that we can change the world.
AM: Being able to see how people have come together and to know that we have to follow through to continue to make our voices heard by making our votes is essential. In addition to this taking place, with the absence of sports, I’m sure you like the rest of us were riveted to ESPN’s The Last Dance as we get ready for the NBA basketball season to resume. What do you think about the format that will take place to complete the season and to head to the playoffs?
MB: I think it was great you know? Normally, when the world is having a crisis, sports is something that we can always turn to. It’s been a hell of 2020 like you mentioned, and 2020 took away sports. So for the NBA to be coming back, it’s slowly but surely becoming America’s past time. I love that they were able to come to some sort of solution or understanding to get back on the court and to really help start the world to heal. We obviously have so far to go, but sports has always been that one time that people can come together. I think that now, more than ever, that’s what we really need. I’m every excited about it and it wouldn’t seem right if we didn’t have a champion this year and now we’re going to be able to get a chance to get that.
AM: We couldn’t agree more. We’re sure that you have a number of projects going on, whether you’re talking about in front of the camera or behind it, are there things that we should be looking forward to in order to keep our eye out for it?
MB: Obviously, you can catch All the Smoke on SHOWTIME right now although we’re in negotiations for a new deal so hopefully, that happens! Also, I’m continuing to produce and create content that I’ll start really getting out there on different networks and platforms as it’s taken over my love of sports – just being able to create content and being able to share true stories, real stories and do inspirational stories. I’m starting to that and I just signed with ICM to help me build my goal and that will be cool. I’m doing a lot in the cannabis space right now trying to educate people on that. Continue to follow that. Last but not least, educating people in a fun way on politics and teaching them on how meaningful it is. Not so much about not being passionate overall in voting for the president or whatever, but finding causes that you’re passionate about and building on those. That’s a small step to getting people first and foremost to register, getting them interested and hopefully getting them all the way interested in being able to understand how powerful their voices are to this country.
AM: We always like to end our interviews asking our changemakers who you clearly are – who are you inspired by. Who are three people who have inspired you to be at the point that you are at now?
MB: Nipsey Hussle RIP. Kobe RIP. These guys because of their focus and dedication on their craft and their obsessive nature – like their beautiful mind to be great. I think that both of those guys were great in their own way and they would have only become greater before their lives were cut short. Someone else that I look up to which is a big thing – I look up to someone like Michael Strahan. Someone who is able to be a formal athlete, able to speak on sports, crossover to mainstream media as well which is something that I would like to do.
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 16 - 25 Matt Barnes + Editorial Design by Athleisure Mag | PG 27 + 33 Ray Chavez | PG 28 - 31 SHOWTIME |
Read the June Issue #54 of Athleisure Mag and see Authentically Matt Barnes in mag.
