After 22 years of playing professional basketball, both in the NBA and overseas, Stephon Marbury is ready to hang 'em up. According to Marc J. Spears of ESPN's The Undefeated, Marbury's final game will be on February 11th, a few days before he turns 41 years old.
Marbury currently plays for the Beijing Fly Dragons, who play their regular-season finale on February 11 against Jiangsu Tongxi. He will not play in the postseason.
In September Marbury had said he was preparing for an "NBA comeback," but he now tells The Undefeated he's simply "tired" and looking forward to returning to his off-season home in Los Angeles once he plays his final game in China.
"I'm tired, man. I'm tired. I played 22 years," Marbury, whose 41st birthday is on Feb. 20, told The Undefeated. "It's all good. I'm straight with how it is right now. I like being able to have control over going out the way I want to go out. I'm 100 percent at peace with it. One hundred percent."
Over the course of his 13-year NBA career, which includes time spent in Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix, New York and Boston, Marbury averaged 19.3 points, 7.6 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. In China, Marbury won three CBA championships with the Ducks and was the 2015 CBA Finals MVP. He has a statue outside of their arena.
Considering all of his accomplishments, the former 4th overall pick in the 1996 draft says he's worthy of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
"My numbers are Hall of Fame. That's first," Marbury said. "You look at guys who have never won championships on the globe, they are in the Hall of Fame. Two, what I have done to help basketball globally to bridge the gap from America to China, with China being one of the main components on the Earth for basketball, that right there alone should bridge that gap.
"It's the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. So, for basketball, I played in Olympics, I played in the Junior Olympics. With what I've done and given to basketball is all Hall of Fame."
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