After bringing in NBA bad boy Bonzi Wells last season, Shanxi Zhongyu of the China Basketball Association (CBA) are seeking to land former disgruntled New York Knick Stephon Marbury, the team said yesterday.
“Marbury will come next week. We want to sign him and we want him to play for us,” club general manager Zhang Beihai said by telephone. “When he arrives we will sit down and talk. Right now it is not clear if he wants to sign. After we talk we will make a decision.”
If he signs, the former NBA All-Star will be joining a team sitting near the bottom of the table with a three-win, nine-loss record and faint hopes of making the post-season playoffs.
Former Houston Rocket forward Maurice Taylor and high-scoring American Lee Benson are currently the two foreign players on the Shanxi team and one will be cut if the 32-year-old Marbury is signed, Zhang said.
Once going by the nickname “Starbury,” the New York-born point guard averaged 18.3 points and 7.6 assists a game in a 13-year NBA career that was tarnished by his unpopularity with fans and an image of selfishness.
During the 2007-2008 NBA season, Marbury refused to play for the Knicks after being benched by coach Isiah Thomas in a public spat that lasted for much of the season. His unhappiness lasted into the following year before his US$42 million contract was bought out early last year and he was signed by the Boston Celtics, the last NBA team he played for.
During the 2008-2009 CBA season, in an effort to boost sagging ticket sales, Shanxi brought in Wells, whose 10-year NBA career was dogged by troublesome on-court behavior and various run-ins with coaches.
Wells only played about six weeks in Shanxi before he left the team amid reports that the club had stopped paying him — despite his spectacular play — after the team’s playoff hopes dimmed.
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