Report: Stephon Marbury’s Playing Career in China Over
Stephon Marbury has managed to burn his way through another league in another country.
The former NBA star had landed in China to play for Shanxi last year, and all seemed to be well. According to NiuBBall.com, though, the honeymoon is over, as the planned three-year contract extension has fallen through, and the team won’t be re-signing its American star.
The report says that Marbury flew to China and was ready to play, but the team nixed the deal just days before the season was set to begin. The team apparently told Marbury to either take a significant pay cut or assume a role as an assistant coach, with neither option deemed suitable by Marbury.
“He’s disappointed in Shanxi,” said Yang Yi, a friend of Marbury’s, according to the website. “This is treachery. Marbury isn’t strapped for cash — he doesn’t need to play in China because he needs money. He just feels really sad because he loves Shanxi. This summer he was working out and keeping his body in shape. He feels really hurt by the team.”
It’s obviously not the first time Marbury’s tenure with a team has ended in disarray. He forced a trade out of his first NBA team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he was traded twice before ending up with the Knicks. There, he butted heads with Isaiah Thomas and then Mike D’Antoni, eventually getting banned from practicing and playing. The low point of his time as a Knick perhaps came when he purchased courtside tickets to watch a game.
Marbury’s last NBA job was with the Celtics, where he caused no problems in his brief stint with the team.
In China, by many accounts, Marbury had been a model citizen, but it appears that Shanxi has become just another team which the point guard has left on bad terms.
