Stephon Marbury retires, finds new life as a hero in China

Stephon Marbury has finally decided to hang up his sneakers after a 22-year career that saw him become a NBA All-Star and then, more unexpectedly, a true icon in China.

On Sunday, Marbury led his team to victory in the last professional game of basketball that he will ever play in. Just shy of 41 years old, Marbury scored 20 points, including a step-back three in the waning seconds that sent the raucous crowd into a frenzy.

After the final buzzer sounded, Marbury exchanged hugs with his teammates and opponents before going back to the sidelines and breaking down into tears as cameras surrounded him.

Many fans in the Beijing Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium couldn’t help but do the same. In the stands, teary-eyed supporters could be seen holding up signs proclaiming “Ma Buli MVP,” “Ma Buli, I love you,” and “My Hero.”

By the time that Marbury stepped to center stage for a farewell speech, even the always cheerful and perky cheerleaders had tears in their eyes.

“Ending my basketball career here in China completes me. This is it — no NBA, no anywhere. This is the way it’s supposed to end, here with you and only you,” Marbury told the crowd, according Becky Davis of the AFP.

“At one time I had no place for the blood to go, and you opened up a portal to your hearts for me to flow. You let me live when I was dying; I can’t explain how I feel as I’m crying,” he continued as chants of “Ma Buli, M-V-P!” rang out throughout the arena.

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Beijing is certainly a long way from where Marbury was born in Brooklyn. A high-school phenom and college All-American, Marbury was drafted 4th in the illustrious 1996 NBA Draft — which also included players like Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant.

A rocky 14 years in the NBA followed, including two All-Star appearances, but many more feuds with coaches. After washing out of the NBA in 2009, Marbury finally found a home in Beijing in 2011. In six seasons with the Ducks, he led the team to three championships (2012, 2014, 2015), successfully toppling the Guangdong Southern Tigers dynasty which had dominated the league since Yao Ming left for the NBA in 2002.

However, that fairytale run came to an abrupt end last April when the Ducks terminated Marbury’s contract, deciding to go in a different direction following a disappointing season. While the Ducks had offered Marbury the opportunity to stay on with the team as an assistant coach, Marbury insisted that his playing days were not over, wanting to play one more year before switching over to coaching.

So, he instead signed with the cross-town rival Beijing Fly Dragons. Though Marbury didn’t play terribly well this season (averaging a career-low 15 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists a game) and his team did not make the playoffs. The year was not without its highlights, including a bit of a scrap with China’s new favorite player Jimmer Fredette, and a 47 point explosion just last month in Guangzhou.

It’s still not clear what the next step will be for Stephon, but prior to the game, he said that he plans to continue contributing to the development of basketball in China.

“It’s been a blessing to see how basketball has continued to grow and develop in this country in the past nine years. I hope my spirit and the way how I played the game can affect the younger generation,” Marbury said.

“In the future I’ll give my best and my love for the game to the younger generation here in China. That’s my obligation.”

Last week, he announced on Weibo that he was willing to help coach the Chinese national team, if Yao Ming asks him to.

Thanks to his play on the court, Marbury has become one of China’s most famous athletes and a beloved hero in Beijing where he has received the title of honorary Beijing citizen, his own series of stamps and even a statue outside the Ducks’ arena.

In 2016, he also became the first foreign celebrity to ever receive a Chinese green card. The following year, he starred in his own biopic called My Other Home, chronicling his journey from the NBA to the CBA.

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On his arm, the Brooklyn native has a tattoo reading: “I [heart] China.”

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