How Carmelo Anthony’s teammate became the CEO of a $100 million company backed by Allen Iverson

Carmelo Anthony has had many teammates over the years but none are as successful as Al Harrington, who is the CEO of a $100 million company!

For most people playing in the NBA is a dream. To be a part of the 440 odd people who are good enough to play basketball in the NBA is nothing short of a miraculous achievement.

Whether you are a fringe player or an all-star, it hardly matters, you’ve made it to the NBA! But somehow, some players manage to make a bigger career outside the NBA than in it.

A very few manage to do this and today, we’ll take a closer look at one such player, Al Harrington. Most of you might not even know who he is and you can be forgiven for not knowing.

For reference, Al has played for seven teams over a 16-year career and played with the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Baron Davis, and JR Smith. He also made a whopping $90 million from his NBA career.

Impressive right, well, outside the NBA, Al happens to be the CEO of a $100 million company! Talk about changing up career paths.

Also read: Carmelo Anthony takes a page out of LeBron James’ $725 million media company to endow a $500 million venture

Al Harrington, Carmelo Anthony’s teammate has a cannabis company worth well over $100 million

10 years after his retirement, Harrington built a cannabis company by the name of ViolaBrands. Their goal was to sell all products related to cannabis, which includes flowers to pre-rolled joints.

Al Harrington went from an NBA role player to the CEO of a $100M weed company.

With the help of investors like AI, JR Smith, and Boogie Cousins, Harrington has turned ViolaBrands into a major player in the 25 billion dollar cannabis industry.

Here’s how he did it: pic.twitter.com/MhMeHIXqis

— Kicks (@kicks) August 17, 2022

As the legalization of Cannabis continues across the country, Harrington’s company found success. It now sells in Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington. In 2021, they generated over $20 million in revenue.

Viola’s partners include Allen Iverson! Who now has his own line of marijuana products with them. Harrington also plans to help raise money for the African-American community. His goal is to create 100 millionaires who are in the Cannabis industry and are African-American.

You might be a bit perplexed as to why his company is based on Cannabis. The reason is personal and not because he consumed it but because it changed the life of his sick grandmother.

His grandmother cried tears of joy when she found pain relief after consuming it and Al knew he had to venture into this industry. He wanted to help others like his grandmother. They wanted to sell home-grown marijuana to cancer patients.

From then on there was no stopping the show and it grew to a $100 million company. But this is only the beginning the Cannabis industry is set to boom to $65 billion by 2030. Al Harrington might just become a billionaire.

Also read: A skinny 18-year-old dominated LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony during the 2007 Team USA Tryouts