Stephon Marbury

Stephon Marbury

No. -- – Free Agent
Position	Point guard
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1977-02-20) February 20, 1977 Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Nationality	USA
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school	Abraham Lincoln HS
College	Georgia Tech
NBA draft	1996: 4th overall
Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career	1996–present
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star (2001, 2003) All-NBA Third Team (2000, 2003) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1997) NCAA AP All-America Third Team (1996)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Olympic medal record
Representing United States
Basketball
	2004 Athens	United States

Template:FixBunching Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent.

The 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 205 lb (93 kg; 14.6 st) point guard was selected out of the Georgia Institute of Technology by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 4th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, but was traded shortly thereafter to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

He was an NBA All-Star in 2001 and 2003 and was voted into the All-NBA Third Team in 2000 and 2003.

Early years

Marbury has often gone by the nickname "Starbury", a name created during his youth. Marbury, the sixth of seven children, was born and raised in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. He attended elementary school PS 238. During his teenage years, he starred at NYC powerhouse Lincoln High, and was often heralded as the next great NYC point guard, expected to follow the success of NBA stand-outs Mark Jackson and Kenny Anderson.

While still attending Abraham Lincoln High School he was one of the subjects of Darcy Frey's book "The Last Shot," which followed three seniors and Marbury, a freshman, through the early months of his first season with the school's team. In high school he played for an AAU team called the New York Gauchos.

College

Recruitment

He was named a 1995 McDonalds All-American along with future NBA All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Antawn Jamison. Marbury was listed as one of the top five recruits in the country that year and heavily pursued by Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Cremins. Eventually, Marbury would commit to Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech

At Georgia Tech, Marbury took over the starting point guard role left vacant with Travis Best's departure. Teaming with future NBA players Matt Harpring and Drew Barry, Marbury led Georgia Tech to a 24–12 record enroute to the Regional Semifinal game of the NCAA tournament, where the Yellow Jackets lost to Cincinnati 87–70. For the season, Marbury averaged 18.9 ppg and 4.5 assists and was named a Third Team All American by the Associated Press, along with several conference honors. Following the conclusion of the season he announced his intention to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft.

NBA career

Early professional career

He was selected fourth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1996 NBA Draft, then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to Ray Allen (who was drafted immediately after him) and a future first-round pick. In his first season in the league, Marbury averaged 15.8 points and 7.8 assists per game and was named to the 1997 All-Rookie Team. He, along with Kevin Garnett, who would later be his teammate on the Celtics, led the Timberwolves to the NBA Playoffs in 1997 and 1998. Marbury fell out with Timberwolves management stemming from a dispute with coaches about his role in the offense, and his agent David Falk demanded a trade during the lockout-shortened 1999 season. Marbury was traded to the New Jersey Nets in a three-way trade in which Terrell Brandon was sent from Milwaukee to Minnesota and Sam Cassell was sent from New Jersey to Milwaukee.

New Jersey and Phoenix

Marbury was traded during the 1998-1999 lockout season. While in New Jersey, Marbury blossomed into an All-Star. Marbury made the All-NBA 3rd Team in 2000 and was selected as a reserve for the 2001 All-Star Game, where he hit 2 clutch threes to win the game. Marbury also scored a career-high 50 points on February 13, 2001 in an overtime loss against the Los Angeles Lakers. Despite his individual accolades, the Nets never made the playoffs during Marbury's time with the team. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns in the 2001 offseason for Jason Kidd. As a Sun, Marbury made his second All-Star team and the All-NBA 3rd team in 2003. Teamed with Rookie of the Year Amare Stoudemire and All-Star Shawn Marion, the trio took the team to the playoffs, but the Suns were ousted by the Spurs in the first round. Marbury was traded to the Knicks during the 2003-2004 season.

New York Knicks

Marbury with the Knicks

Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski were traded to the New York Knicks on January 5, 2004 for Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe, draft rights to Miloš Vujanić, a first-round 2004 draft choice, and an additional future first-round draft choice, likely to be in the 2010 draft. This brought Marbury full circle, as he grew up in New York and was a lifelong Knicks fan.

Marbury played for the U.S. (Dream Team IV) in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first of the U.S. teams composed of NBA players to fail to win the gold medal at the Olympics. He and his teammates returned with bronze. Despite the disappointment, Marbury scored a U.S. team Olympic record 31 points in a game against Spain.

During the 2005-06 season Marbury feuded with head coach Larry Brown. Towards the end of the 2005-2006 season, the Knicks' poor performance combined with Marbury's public spats with his coach led to a severe decline in Marbury's popularity, with Frank Isola and Michael O'Keefe of the New York Daily News stating that Marbury is "the most reviled athlete in New York."

The public feud between Marbury and Brown was one of the reasons Larry Brown was fired at the end of the 2005-06 season. Isiah Thomas took over the coaching role and the Knicks were slightly more successful during the 2006-2007 season, surpassing the previous year's 23 wins, 54 games into their 82-game season, before falling off and finishing with only 33. Despite the fact that Marbury had less impressive statistics than in prior years, some pundits claimed that Marbury's newfound unselfishness was key to the team's apparent improvement towards the end of the season.

Marbury being defended by Andre Miller

The start of the 2007-08 season found the Knicks again floundering and Marbury again involved in a public feud, this time with Thomas. The pivotal incident involved Marbury leaving the team after learning that Thomas planned to remove him from the starting lineup. There were reports that Marbury and Thomas actually came to blows on the team plane, and that Marbury threatened to blackmail Thomas for taking him out of the starting lineup—both in the presence of Knick teammates. Following the incident and Marbury's return to the team in mid-November after one missed game, Knick fans consistently chanted "fire Isiah" at home games and constantly booed virtually all of the Knicks, especially Marbury. The dysfunction and drama were accompanied by 8 straight Knicks losses, and several newspapers reported that Isiah's job was in jeopardy. There were also rumors that the Knicks would like to trade Marbury to another team. However, this proved difficult for the Knicks to accomplish, in view of the two years and approximately $42 million remaining under his contract with the Knicks. Following a season-ending ankle surgery in February 2008, which was reportedly deemed unnecessary by the team, but which Marbury elected to undergo regardless, Isiah Thomas hinted that Marbury could have played his final game in a Knicks uniform. However, in April 2008, it was Thomas who was removed from his position; first as president, being replaced by Donnie Walsh, and then as coach, being replaced by Mike D'Antoni.

After D'Antoni took over, the Knicks signed Chris Duhon, leading to speculations over Marbury's future in New York. Marbury arrived to training camp, and competed with Duhon for the starting point guard job. Duhon won the position battle, and Marbury was put on the team's inactive list—according to D'Antoni, to avoid embarrassing him with limited playing time. However, when D'Antoni told Marbury that Marbury had an opportunity to play approximately 35 minutes in a game if he wanted to, Marbury, apparently feeling he and the Knicks had gone their own ways, allegedly refused. Following that, on December 1, Marbury was banned from attending any Knicks' practices or games, and was instructed to stay home. On December 16, Marbury defied the spirit of the ban and bought a ticket for a courtside seat and attended a Knicks road game in Los Angeles where, while spending most of the game talking on his cellphone, he was greeted by several celebrities in attendance at the game but was ignored by all of the Knicks players.

Boston Celtics

On February 24, 2009, the Knicks and Marbury agreed to a buyout after much speculation. He cleared waivers two days later, making him a free agent. Marbury had been speculated to become a Boston Celtic by many NBA analysts since late 2008; and on February 27, 2009, Marbury signed with the Celtics. In his debut as a Celtic, he played against the Indiana Pacers, adding 8 points on 4 of 6 shooting, and 2 assists in 13 minutes. Marbury wore the jersey number 8 (No. 3 had been retired in honor of the late Dennis Johnson).

Marbury was offered a one-year contract by the Celtics for the 2009-10 season for the veteran's minimum. However, he did not agree to the contract. He later announced that he would take a year off from basketball to attend to his business interests.

Off the court

Family

Marbury's father Don died during a December 2, 2007 game between the Knicks and the Phoenix Suns.

Marbury's brother Zach plays professional basketball in Venezuela. Marbury is a cousin of Sebastian Telfair. Stephon and his wife (Latasha) married Sept 14, 2002. They have three children.

Philanthropy

In 2005, Marbury donated between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Fashion

In 2006, Marbury partnered with Steve & Barry's to promote a line of shoes and clothing bearing his nickname, "Starbury". The line of shoes he endorsed sells for $14.98, far less than many other shoe lines. Marbury was not paid to endorse the shoes, but was compensated based on sales of the shoes.

In popular culture

Marbury is on the cover of the Midway video game NBA Ballers. He has been named to The Sporting News list of "Good Guys in Sports" three times.

In 2007, Marbury made controversial public statements defending Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and dogfighting. Marbury was quoted in Newsweek magazine as saying, "We don't react the same when other animals are being killed for sport or for the sake of human pleasure."

In March 2008, WWE superstar Montel Vontavious Porter said in an interview that he based his wrestling persona on Marbury. M.V.P. said he had an encounter with Marbury when he was a doorman at a club.

During Isiah Thomas' sexual harassment trial, a witness testified that Marbury has sexually assaulted a team intern; the intern later testified that the sex was consensual. Marbury, a married father, testified that he had sex with the intern in the back of his truck after a group outing to a strip club in 2005. In 2009, Marbury broadcasted his life 24/7 on the live stream website Justin.tv.

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	Minnesota	67	64	34.7	.408	.354	.727	2.7	7.8	1.0	.3	15.8
1997–98	Minnesota	82	81	38.0	.415	.313	.731	2.8	8.6	1.3	.1	17.7
1998–99	Minnesota	18	18	36.7	.408	.205	.724	3.4	9.3	1.6	.3	17.7
1998–99	New Jersey	31	31	39.8	.439	.367	.832	2.6	8.7	1.0	.1	23.4
1999–00	New Jersey	74	74	38.9	.432	.283	.813	3.2	8.4	1.5	.2	22.2
2000–01	New Jersey	67	67	38.2	.441	.328	.790	3.1	7.6	1.2	.1	23.9
2001–02	Phoenix	82	80	38.9	.442	.286	.781	3.2	8.1	.9	.2	20.4
2002–03	Phoenix	81	81	40.0	.439	.301	.803	3.2	8.1	1.3	.2	22.3
2003–04	Phoenix	34	34	41.6	.432	.314	.795	3.4	8.3	1.9	.2	20.8
2003–04	New York	47	47	39.1	.431	.321	.833	3.1	9.3	1.4	.1	19.8
2004–05	New York	82	82	40.0	.462	.354	.834	3.0	8.1	1.5	.1	21.7
2005–06	New York	60	60	36.6	.451	.317	.755	2.9	6.4	1.0	.1	16.3
2006–07	New York	74	74	37.1	.415	.357	.769	2.9	5.4	1.0	.1	16.4
2007–08	New York	24	19	33.5	.419	.378	.716	2.5	4.7	.9	.1	13.9
2008–09	Boston	23	4	18.0	.342	.240	.462	1.2	3.3	.4	.1	3.8
Career		846	816	37.7	.433	.325	.784	3.0	7.6	1.2	.1	19.3
All-Star		2	0	16.5	.500	.400	.500	.5	5.0	.0	.0	8.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1996–97	Minnesota	3	3	39.0	.400	.300	.600	4.0	7.7	.7	.0	21.3
1997–98	Minnesota	5	5	41.8	.306	.280	.783	3.2	7.6	2.4	.0	13.8
2002–03	Phoenix	6	6	45.3	.375	.227	.758	4.0	5.7	1.2	.0	22.0
2003–04	New York	4	4	43.5	.373	.300	.680	4.3	6.5	1.8	.0	21.3
2008–09	Boston	14	0	11.9	.303	.250	1.000	.9	1.8	.1	.0	3.7
Career		32	18	29.3	.355	.273	.750	2.6	4.6	.9	.0	12.6

External links

• Template:NBA-profile
• Template:Basketball-reference