Boston Celtics: 15 players you forgot played for the Celtics

6. Stephon Marbury

Stephon Marbury grew up playing basketball in Brooklyn, New York (Coney Island to be exact) where a lot of athletes are a proud product of. Marbury was a 1995 McDonald’s All-American, along with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Antawn Jamison in the same year. He would go on to being the fourth overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.

Marbury was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks but his rights were later traded on draft night to the Timberwolves. Even as a rookie, Marbury established himself as being one of the premier point guards in the NBA by making the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1997. In his first three seasons, Marbury averaged 16.9 points and 8.3 assists per game.

Marbury was later traded during the middle of the 1998 season to the New Jersey Nets and that’s when he brought his game to the next level. For the next seven seasons of his NBA career, Marbury averaged more than 20 points and 7.5 assists while playing more than 33.5 minutes per game.

The Brooklyn product played 13 years in the NBA for the Timberwolves, Nets, Suns, Knicks, and the Boston Celtics. A few months into the ‘09 season, Marbury and the Knicks agreed to a buyout and he eventually signed with the Celtics as a free agent. The All-Star point guard would only play in 23 games for the Celtics near the end of his career. He averaged 19.3 points, three rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game during his NBA career.

Although only appearing in 23 games with the Celtics, it’s worth mentioning that had Marbury agreed to a contract the following year with the team, he would have played a big role in the 2010 Finals against the Lakers. He instead retired from the NBA and joined the Chinese Basketball Association where he became a six-time CBA All-Star, three-time CBA champion, Finals MVP, and league MVP.

Marbury is currently the head coach of the CBA’s Beijing Royal Fighters.