Former NBA bad boy Stephon Marbury has parted acrimoniously with yet another employer, splitting with his team in northern China to sign with another Chinese squad, state media said yesterday.
The former NBA all-star, who resurrected his career by coming to China earlier this year, signed a contract on Tuesday with the Chinese Basketball Association’s Foshan Dragon Lions, China News Service said.
That came after the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons last week released Marbury, 33, on a sour note, the report said, with the team citing salary “reasons” and Marbury’s inability to guarantee his fitness to play.
Marbury meanwhile accused the team of “lying to him and Shanxi’s fans,” the report said, giving no details.
AFP was unable to immediately contact the teams, Marbury, or the CBA for comment, and none of the parties appears to have made a public statement.
Marbury — the first player to appear in both an NBA and a CBA All-Star game — is by far the biggest foreign star ever to play in China.
He joined Shanxi in early this year to revive his playing career after falling out with his NBA teams and to market his “Starbury” brand of basketball shoes.
Shanxi said in July that Marbury had agreed to stay three more years with the team.
Instead, the ex-New York Knick will now play for Foshan, based in the city of the same name in Guangdong Province.
The team last season played as Shaanxi Lithium Energy, based in Shaanxi Province, but moved to Guangdong after a change of ownership this summer, China News Service said.
Marbury averaged 22.8 points and 9.6 assists last season.
The new season starts on Dec. 10 and Foshan will face Marbury’s old team on Jan. 19, the report said.
Marbury, who is known by the three Chinese characters “Ma Bu Li,” helped pull in record crowds for Shanxi — quite a turnaround from his controversial 13-year NBA career.
After being benched by former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas during the 2007 to 2008 season, Marbury refused to play in what became an ugly spat that drew national headlines and alienated fans.
The rancor dragged into the following season until the Knicks bought out the rest of his contract. He last played stateside for the Boston Celtics.
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