Ex-Knicks J.R. Smith, Al Harrington lobby NY lawmakers to legalize pot

ALBANY – Former New York Knicks basketball players J.R. Smith and Al Harrington made a surprise appearance in Albany on Tuesday to push for pot to be legalized before the plan goes up in smoke at the end of the legislative session.

The New Jersey-born hoops stars were invited by Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D-Buffalo), who is the sponsor of the recreational marijuana legislation, with the suspected tokers lending star power to the dying legislation.

Harrington told The Post that he and Smith had “expertise” in both medical and recreational marijuana and were pushing for black communities to be included in the proposed legislation.

There are fears the bill will be snuffed out unless lawmakers can come to an agreement before the end of the legislative session on June 19.

“It’s been very positive,” Harrington said of his meetings with legislators. “You know this is something that they want, but they want to do it the right way.

“We met with a bunch of different assembly members and senators, legislators and just kind of just giving our opinion from our perspective being that we’re black.

“We feel that it’s very important that we need to have the seat at the table so we can use some of these funds to rebuild our communities.”