Former New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury is negotiating a deal to send a surplus of 10 million N95 masks to New York City from China but is running into issues with the deal.
"At the end of the day, I am from Brooklyn," Marbury told the NY Post. "This is something that is close and dear to my heart as far as being able to help New York.
"I have family there in Coney Island, a lot of family ... who are affected by this, so I know how important it is for people to have masks during this time."
Marbury has been in contact with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “We’ve been communicating back and forth with the city and state, and for some reason they are saying they don’t need any more masks, but the hospitals are saying they do,” Adams said Thursday.
Marbury currently coaches the Chinese Basketball Association's Royal Fighters.
Marbury played 13 seasons in the NBA, before leaving to play in the CBA from 2010 to 2018.
As of Sunday, there are 59,513 confirmed cases in the state of New York, 33,768 of which are in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city is down to a week's worth of medical supplies: “We have enough supplies to get to a week from today, with the exception of ventilators, we’re going to need at least several hundred more ventilators very quickly. We are going to need a reinforcement.’’
[Via]