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What Happened to Stephon Marbury's NBA Career?

What happened to Stephon Marbury's NBA career? A trade demand, a Knicks meltdown, a 2009 buyout and a second act in China, traced through the Netflix film.

By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · September 22, 2020

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Somewhere in the Netflix documentary A Kid From Coney Island, Stephon Marbury walks through a Minnesota winter in an AND1 hoodie, looking miserable. Corey and Fotis kept coming back to that shot on Nothing But Net Flicks. It holds part of the answer to what happened to Stephon Marbury's NBA career, though only part.

Marbury played for five teams in a 13-year NBA career that ended in 2009. A trade demand in Minnesota set off a run through New Jersey, Phoenix and New York. A feud-heavy Knicks stint ended in a buyout. He then rebuilt himself in China, where he won three titles.

From Coney Island to the 1996 draft

Marbury was the sixth of seven children raised in the Coney Island Houses, a public housing development in Brooklyn. One host asked whether he had four or five older brothers. Nobody on the episode knew. The hosts do say the documentary shows each brother handing him something: a jumper from one, ball handling from another, a work ethic from a third.

Fotis knew the feeling. His two brothers are both 6'2", he is 5'7" "with shoes on," and he said being bullied on the court is how you find your edge. Marbury's father pushed the dream from the other side. The hosts recalled his line that we wouldn't be in the sky if the Wright brothers hadn't dreamed.

The dream paid off quickly. After his senior year at Abraham Lincoln High School, Marbury was named New York State Mr. Basketball, having averaged 27.4 points, 8.3 assists and 3 steals. One season at Georgia Tech followed, and Milwaukee took him fourth overall in 1996 and immediately traded him to Minnesota in a deal that sent Ray Allen to Milwaukee.

There's an irony the hosts enjoyed. Allen played the Coney Island phenom in He Got Game, a film they consider the best basketball movie ever made. They also called the 1996 class possibly the best ever, with Kobe, Nash, Allen and Iverson in it. The documentary's draft-night footage cuts to Marbury's father with tears running down his face. The hosts said that scene hit them hardest.

Why did Stephon Marbury leave Minnesota and Kevin Garnett?

Marbury averaged 15.8 points and 7.8 assists as a rookie and made the All-Rookie First Team. Minnesota reached the playoffs in each of his first two full seasons. Then he requested a trade after failing to agree on a long-term contract.

The hosts, relaying the documentary, point to money. Garnett landed his extension, the rules changed, and Marbury couldn't get as much. They add the cold, and Stephen A. Smith's blunt advice in the film, which they boiled down to "grab a coat." They also noted that New York and New Jersey get cold too.

Their what-if is that Marbury was 20 and Garnett 19, and both would have grown up together. They guessed that by 22 and 23 the pair would be a top-five seed in the West. That is a guess, and nobody has a record of the alternate timeline. Still, I find it hard to wave away. Two young stars who liked each other, in a market that sat on its hands.

They also say the documentary glossed over how bad a place he was in. Fotis wondered how much of the early flameout trap is psychological. He cited Felipe Lopez, the hyped Coney Island-era rival who faded fast. The idea is that you reach the league and discover everybody is good. Marbury had talent to spare, and the hosts argue he still struggled to cope with the weight of it.

What happened to Stephon Marbury's NBA career in Phoenix and New York?

The detour ran through New Jersey. In 2001 the Nets sent him to Phoenix for Jason Kidd and Chris Dudley. In 2003 he made his second All-Star team and the All-NBA third team, and he and Amar'e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion took the Suns to the playoffs. The Spurs ousted them in the first round.

The hosts wonder what a longer Phoenix run would have looked like. The Knicks trade in January 2004 was Marbury's fourth, and the first major move by new team president Isiah Thomas. Marbury grew up a Knicks fan. The start was good: he averaged 19.8 points and 9.3 assists in New York in 2003-04. The Knicks made the playoffs and were swept by the Nets.

It did not last. In 2005-06 he feuded publicly with coach Larry Brown. The Knicks went 23-59. Then came a falling-out with Thomas. Marbury's father died of a heart attack after attending a Knicks-Suns game on December 2, 2007, and Marbury spent most of that month on bereavement leave. Under new coach Mike D'Antoni, Marbury refused 35 minutes a night and was told on December 1, 2008 to stay away from the team. A buyout came on February 24, 2009, and he signed with Boston.

The hosts blame the organization more than the players. Corey, a lifelong Knicks fan, says he only holds a player accountable for loafing. They also note the documentary didn't linger on the sexual-harassment case that tarnished the era. Marbury testified at that 2007 trial.

“The only thing for him, the only language for him was basketball again.”
— Corey Tulaba , on Nothing But Net Flicks

Stephon Marbury's NBA career stats: how long did he play, and how good was he?

He played 13 seasons. He averaged 19.3 points, 7.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 846 regular-season games. He was a two-time All-Star and a two-time All-NBA selection.

The hosts said "20 and 8" from memory and promised to double-check. They were close. They also said he left the league at 31, though he was 32 when his last NBA season ended (he was born February 20, 1977). The Celtics stint, at 3.8 points a game, was a long way from his peak.

They think he'd thrive now. One host called him "tailor-made" for a spread pick-and-roll game and compared him to a slightly bigger Kemba Walker. I agree on volume. I'd hold back on efficiency. His career line was 43.3% from the field and 32.5% from three. The hosts themselves said his numbers would look better in today's game but his impact on winning might not change. I'd bet on that.

What went wrong at the 2004 Olympics?

The U.S. went 5-3 in 2004, beginning with a stunning 19-point loss to Puerto Rico. They also lost to Lithuania and to Argentina in the semifinals. The team won only bronze.

Marbury played well in places. He scored 31 points and hit a record six three-pointers against Spain. Against Argentina he led the U.S. with 18. He has called it "the worst 38 days of my life." He has also said Brown was coaching as if the All-Stars were his own team.

The hosts refuse to pin it on him. Corey said Argentina was "quite literally" the best team in the world, with Ginobili, Nocioni and Scola. They noted that Shaq, Kobe, Garnett and McGrady all stayed home. Brown later said "We threw those kids into a terrible situation." Fotis suspected the film leaned on the Brown clash because it made a clean storyline. I think he's right.

Stephon Marbury's career earnings, and the $14.98 shoe

Marbury earned roughly $150.5 million in NBA salary before taxes and fees. The Knicks paid him close to $88 million over about five years. His last NBA contract was a veteran's-minimum deal worth $1.26 million with Boston.

The money from the shoe line was smaller. The Starbury One dropped on August 17, 2006. It retailed for $14.98. He wore it throughout the 2006-07 season. He took a commission on each pair instead of a flat endorsement fee. Roughly 4 million pairs sold over a year and a half, and he earned about $8 million in royalties. Then Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy and the experiment ended.

The hosts were the right age for it. They remembered kids wearing Starburys, and they compared Marbury's line with Shaq's Walmart shoes. They said he doesn't get enough credit for it. I'd go further. Of everything Marbury did off the court, the cheap shoe aged best. The hosts also wished someone had rescued it with a $30 price.

Why did Stephon Marbury leave the NBA for China?

He didn't leave because the league fell out of love with him overnight. The Celtics offered him a veteran's minimum deal for 2009-10, which he declined. He has said that after his father's death he went to China "mentally sick and depressed." The hosts say the documentary has him saying he didn't want to be here anymore, and they understood that to mean alive. Their point was that salary doesn't fix that. (If that's close to home for you, you can call or text 988 in the U.S.)

China gave him a way back. He led the Beijing Ducks to their first CBA title in 2012 with a 4-1 finals win over Guangdong. He averaged 33.4 points in the finals and scored 41 in the clincher, but a rule barring foreign-born players meant he couldn't be named MVP. Over a million fans voted to build him a statue. He won two more titles, in 2014 and 2015. A museum in Beijing followed.

The hosts' explanation is simple. He couldn't speak the language, so the only language left was basketball, and nobody was shouting at him. One host called Marbury a Coney Island kid who became a superstar on the other side of the world. They also loved the barbershop scene near the end, where he tells a kid he could be president, and the kid says nobody ever told him that. Fotis said he got choked up.

Would the Hall of Fame take him? The hosts doubt it on his NBA record. They also speculated that the voters might count China. Nobody has seen a ballot. Beijing settled that argument years ago with a bronze statue and a postage stamp.