Former New York Knicks guard and NBA star Stephon Marbury, who vowed to help the Big Apple fight the coronavirus pandemic, revealed that he recently lost a relative due to the infectious disease.
Marbury spoke with NBC on Sunday where he shared the heartbreaking news of losing a cousin due to COVID-19. The guard is actually in Beijing right now where he is a coach for a professional team.
“I've lost loved ones to this invisible monster. I have a cousin who died yesterday due to the coronavirus my family is dealing with a very difficult time,” the ex-NBA guard said.
The 43-year-old, who hails from Brooklyn, also shared his plan to provide 10 million masks for New York-based doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff — considered as the frontliners in the battle against COVID-19. He also opened up to Marc J. Spears of ESPN on why he decided to step up for New York.
Marbury intends to use his connections in manufacturing plants in China to source the different products needed by the frontliners. Per Laura Nahmias of the New York Daily News, the two-time NBA All-Star intends to help Borough President of Brooklyn Eric Adams.
“Because of my relationship with Eric [Adams] and for the people of Coney Island where I'm from, I'm now trying to help source from different factories here in China to help because [Eric Adams] isn’t here. He's not on the ground. He's not able to have people coming here because it's so difficult right now,” Marbury said.
“So I'm taking on a role for him to basically try to help sourcing products with masks and different other products that people will need to survive. Test kits, all these different things that have been called upon and what the city needs to try to get in front of this,” he said, describing how he’s watched the situation in the U.S. spiral out of control in the two weeks since he traveled from America to Beijing.
Stephon Marbury is just among the many current and former NBA players who have used their resources and connections to aid in containing the coronavirus. Hopefully, many more others will follow suit.
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