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Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury shares his views on Coronavirus and basketball from his perspective of playing, coaching and living in China.
Playing Career
Famously known as Starbury, Stephon Marbury has quite the 19-season long NBA career. After being drafted in 1996 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Marbury had immediate NBA success being selected to the 1997 NBA All-Rookie team.
Throughout his career, Marbury played for a plethora of teams including the Raptors, Suns, Nets, Knicks, and Boston before ending his NBA career in 2009. In his 19-year NBA career, Marbury averaged 19.3 points, 7.6 assists and 3 rebounds per game. The impressive NBA stats earned Marbury two All-Star and two All-NBA selections during his career.
For the 2010 season, the Celtics offered Marbury a veteran’s minimum 1.3 million dollar contract. He turned down ending his career in the NBA. Instead, Marbury played in China joining the Brave Dragons in the CBA.
In 2011, the Beijing Ducks signed Marbury launching his impressive CBA career. He won three championships for the Ducks in 2012, 2014, and 2015. Marbury became a basketball phenom in China, earning himself a statue outside of the Ducks stadium.
Marbury played his final CBA career game in 2018 with the Beijing Fly Dragons. He then retired and accepted the coaching job with Beijing Royal Fighters in June of 2019.
Marbury’s Take on the COVID-19 Situation
Having lived and coached in China during the Coronavirus outbreak, Marbury shares his opinions on the Coronavirus outbreak in America and on the NBA as a whole.
Marbury comments on how the NBA should mirror the CBA by taking every precaution possible when dealing with the virus outbreak.
The CBA suspended its season back on January 24 and has yet to resume play. With the COVID-19 outbreak spreading to the United States later, Adam Silver made the decision to suspend the NBA season indefinitely. This decision came on March 11 following the news that Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus.
Marbury also discussed that NBA players want to resume playing soon but also are concerned about their own safety.
Not only addressing the NBA, Marbury compares how the United States has handled the COVID-19 outbreak differently from China. Marbury pointed to how China locked down their country to stop the speed, while some states in America continue to keep their beaches open.
