After being selected fourth in the 1996 draft, Stephon Marbury brought a lot of promise and excitement to the Minnesota Timberwolves as he was paired with one of the rising stars in the league that time, Kevin Garnett.
Marbury went on to produce impressive numbers through the majority of his career and was even named an All-Star twice. However, things did not go according to plan as he was left with no team after appearing in 24 games for the Boston Celtics in the 2009-2010 season mostly due to the behavioral problems he's had. He was forced to bring his talents to China and play professional basketball there in an attempt to resurrect his career.
As it turned out, things were better than expected for him there, as he was welcomed with open arms by his team and teammates and is now one of the most well-loved foreign players in the CBA.
The 39-year-old Georgia Tech product recently talked about getting offers to go back to the NBA but declined them as he was being treated as a hero in China and he did not want to leave his team, the Beijing Ducks. He also discussed why he thinks he was not liked in the U.S. anymore as he believes people thought he messed up the financial stability of the Timberwolves before.
“I basically kept telling them I wasn’t interested, and I really wasn’t, That was not where my mind was. They had just talked about erecting a statue for me and the last thing I was thinking about was playing back in the NBA.”
“I remember those days when it wasn’t fun with what I contributed on and off the court. I thought the league was mad about me messing up their money in Minnesota,”
Six years after his move to China, Starbury has led his team to three championships and now has a statue made for him in the country's capital. He also has a number of successful business ventures which has made him one of the richest athletes in all of China.
After the controversies he was involved in before and his speculation that the league hated him following his public statements of wanting out of his team and his displease with how the NBA has handled his situation, it made his decision to go overseas turn out to be a good move on his part. The league did not have to deal with him anymore and Marbury has gone on to play great basketball once again and be the adopted son of Beijing. When asked if he still has hard feelings towards the association, he made it clear he has none and he has moved on from it a long time ago.
“I’m far removed. But to rekindle the flame with the NBA, it wasn’t important, but it needed to be done. Now we’re moving forward.”
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