50 Greatest NBA/ABA Players Not In the Hall Of Fame
By Phil Watson
Copyright 2007 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
Stephon Marbury’s NBA career faded away with a messy divorce from the New York Knicks in 2009 and a brief cameo with the Boston Celtics, but he was one of the top producing point guards in the league for a decade.
Marbury then went to China and reinvented his career, becoming a legend of the Chinese Basketball Association before finally retiring in 2018 at age 41.
A prep legend in Brooklyn, Marbury was the fourth overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft and was traded on draft night from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Coincidentally (or not), Minnesota made its first-ever trip to the NBA playoffs during Marbury’s rookie year and he would go on to earn two All-NBA bids while being part of some of the biggest trades in NBA history.
In March 1999, Marbury went to the New Jersey Nets in a three-team, eight-player extravaganza that included Sam Cassell and Terrell Brandon. In July 2001, Marbury was sent to the Phoenix Suns for Hall of Famer Jason Kidd.
In 13 NBA seasons, Marbury averaged 19.3 points, 7.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 37.7 minutes per game, shooting 43.3 percent overall and 32.5 percent on 3.6 3-point attempts per game.
Marbury ranked 17th in NBA history in minutes per game and 19th in assists per game, while ranking 27th on the all-time assists list with 6,471.