Report: Marbury plans to play in Italy when contract is up

GREENBURGH, New York (Ticker) -- Stephon Marbury will not be wearing a New York Knicks uniform any time soon.

The Knicks ordered Marbury to stay away from the team Monday after the mercurial point guard and team president Donnie Walsh failed to resolve their ongoing feud.

"After meeting with Stephon and his representative this afternoon, we have directed Stephon not to participate in practice or attend games until further notice," Walsh said in a statement released by the Knicks. "We want to continue to meet with him to discuss a long-term resolution."

Marbury's future with the Knicks was "not resolved" after meeting with Walsh and Hal Biagas, an NBA Players' Association attorney, at the team's Westchester headquarters.

The meeting, which lasted approximately 35 minutes, presumably was held to negotiate a buyout of the contract scheduled to pay Marbury approximately $21 million this season.

But the sides did not reach an agreement, according to Biagas.

"It is not resolved," Biagas told reporters. "I'm not commenting. We need to try to keep this in-house. I'll keep you posted if things happen. We had a conversation."

Marbury left the meeting after 15 minutes and sat in his Rolls Royce until Biagas exited the building 20 minutes later.

The meeting constituted the latest development in what has been a messy saga between the Knicks and Marbury, who who was benched by head coach Mike D'Antoni for the first three weeks of the season. The Brooklyn native then refused to play last week when the Knicks' roster was severely shortened by injuries and trades.

After getting blasted in the New York newspapers by teammate Quentin Richardson last week, Marbury lashed out at his critics this past weekend.

"It's like we're in a foxhole and I'm facing the other way," Marbury told the New York Post. "If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn't even give me an honorable death."

Marbury, 31, also offered harsh words toward D'Antoni.

"Mike had no intentions of me playing basketball here," Marbury told the Post. "He gave me straight disrespect. It was beyond disrespect. ... He was sticking it to me."

Walsh, in his first year with the Knicks, traditionally has been opposed to contract buyouts and had balked at the notion of trading or releasing Marbury earlier this season.

On the other hand, D'Antoni - also in his first season in New York - has more than demonstrated that he has no intention of giving Marbury a role with the rebuilding Knicks, who have not had a winning season since 2000-01.

Marbury, who has not appeared in a game this season, reportedly has begged the Knicks to release him or trade him.

But the two-time All-Star did not help his situation with the team when he refused to play in recent games against Milwaukee and Detroit when the Knicks had just seven other available players.

Richardson voiced his stinging criticism of Marbury following Wednesday night's 110-96 loss to the Pistons, saying that he did not consider Marbury a teammate. The Knicks further angered Marbury by fining him $400,000 for refusing to play.

Marbury has struggled through a difficult five-year stretch with the Knicks, who acquired the talented but troubled guard in an eight-player deal with the Phoenix Suns on January 5, 2004.

A lifelong Knicks fan, Marbury has been one of the central figures for a franchise that deteriorated under Isiah Thomas into one the biggest laughingstocks in American professional sports.

In the summer of 2007, Marbury testified in court when former Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders filed an $11.6 million sexual harrassment lawsuit against Thomas and Madison Square Garden.

During his testimony, Marbury admitted to making derogatory comments about Sanders while revealing that he had sex with an MSG intern in a truck outside a strip club in 2005.

The Knicks have gone through five different coaches while traditionally owning the league's highest payroll since Marbury joined the team.

New York reached the postseason in Marbury's first season with the team but suffered a four-game series sweep at the hands of the New Jersey Nets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Widely considered a selfish player, Marbury has failed to mesh with numerous star teammates throughout his career, including Kevin Garnett, Shawn Marion, Keith Van Horn, Allan Houston and Steve Francis.

Nicknamed "Starbury," Marbury also has clashed with his coaches and made headlines for his public gripes with then-Knicks coach Larry Brown during the 2005-06 campaign.

Despite his problems both on and off the court, Marbury has been one of the NBA's top point guards during his 11-plus seasons. He has averaged 19.7 points and 7.8 assists in 823 career games with the Knicks, Suns, Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

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