All this time, we expected all of the off-court drama to be coming from the land of the Purple-and-Gold, but surprise surprise, the circus has once again come to Madison Square Garden (and I'm not talking about Ringling Bros.)
Marbury Fined by Knicks For Skipping Game
click to show NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks fined Stephon Marbury more than $180,000 for skipping Tuesday night's game at Phoenix.
The Knicks sent the guard a letter informing him of the fine, according to a person with knowledge of the penalty who spoke to The Associated Press. He requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss it.
The Knicks would not confirm the fine.
Marbury's status for tonight's Knicks game in Los Angeles against the Clippers remains murky. Knicks vice president of media relations Jonathan Supranowitz said he doesn't know if Marbury will be at the game. Supranowitz told 1050 ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand that he has been unable to reach Marbury on Wednesday.
"We are just going to see how it plays out," Supranwoitz said.
According to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, players are docked 1/110th of their salaries for a missed game. With Marbury scheduled to earn $20.1 million this season, that would be about $182,800.
Marbury told the New York Post on Tuesday he had permission from coach Isiah Thomas to leave the team, but Thomas would not confirm that. He did say Marbury would be welcome.
The New York Daily News reported on Wednesday the trouble started during the team's flight to Phoenix, when Marbury learned from teammate Eddy Curry that Thomas planned to use him as a backup and start second-year guard Mardy Collins. A person close to the situation told the Daily News that Marbury reportedly marched to the front of the plane to confront Thomas over the situation, then returned five minutes later and claimed he had leverage on Thomas.
"Isiah has to start me," Marbury reportedly said, according to the Daily News. "I've got so much [stuff] on Isiah and he knows it. He thinks he can [get] me. But I'll [get] him first. You have no idea what I know."
Several of Marbury's teammates said his departure took them by surprise, but they expressed no hard feelings.
"You always support your teammates," forward Jared Jeffries said Tuesday night. "A lot of people on the outside don't understand what guys go through with their family, their friends, with this team, with anything. Whenever somebody goes through a tough time you support your teammate."
Marbury played poorly down the stretch in New York's 75-72 loss to Miami on Sunday, and the Daily News reported Tuesday the Knicks were trying to reduce Marbury's role or get rid of him entirely.
That created tensions between Marbury and Thomas -- neighbors in Westchester County who share the same agent. The two reportedly even fought on the plane to Phoenix, which the Knicks denied.
"There is no truth to that whatsoever," said Knicks spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz, who was on the flight.
Marbury is still one of the Knicks' best players, averaging 15.2 points and 6.8 assists. But he and Thomas clashed early last season after Thomas benched him in the second halves of two games, and Marbury caused the Knicks some more headaches this summer.
He behaved erratically during a televised interview, then testified in a sexual harassment trial against Thomas and Madison Square Garden that he had a sexual encounter in his truck with a team intern, smiling and singing on his way out of the courthouse.
Marbury is under contract with the Knicks through next season, scheduled to earn about $42 million. That makes him difficult to trade, especially since he has created problems off the court and never won a playoff series on it.
Lotta he said/he said here. Did Marbury recieve permission to leave the team? If he did, why wouldn't the Knicks confirm this? How much [stuff] does Marbury have on Isiah that won't sully his already sullied reputation, or is this just an idle threat?
I've never seen an organization in so muc dysfunction. It's easy to pin all of this on Thomas, but this team was falling apart back when Scott Leyden was their GM. I put all of this on James Dolan, and I wish somebody would take the team away from him, even if this means a hostile takeover of Cablevision, the Knicks' parent company.