From NBA bad boy to the mainland’s main man – watch the story of Stephon Marbury’s remarkable reinvention in China
An action-packed eight years have made for excellent viewing – on and off the court
The 40-year-old signed off from a 22-year pro ball career with 20 points in 38 minutes to help his team to a 104-92 win over Jiangsu Nangang Dragons – his last action nailing a three-pointer.
Eight years ago Marbury was the first star player to leave the NBA for the Chinese Basketball Association and the only one to stay.
When he arrived in China in 2010 to play for the Shanxi Brave Lions, nobody could have foreseen what was to come and no one would have expected him to be here for all that time.
Three teams, several hundred games and thousands of points later the former NBA bad boy, a player whose 14-year career in the big league ended after he had fallen out with his hometown New York Knicks and then rejected a contract from the Boston Celtics – among a wider series of bizarre incidents – would become the most successful import in all Chinese sports and arguably the most famous foreigner in the country.
As odd as that sounds, that’s exactly what happened.