Stephon Xavier Marbury (born February 20, 1977 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing point guard with the New York Knicks. Marbury has often gone by the nickname "Starbury", a name created during his youth. Marbury, the sixth of seven children, was born and raised on Coney Island and attended elementary school PS 238

During his teenage years he was often heralded as the next great New York City point guard, expected to follow the success of NBA stand-outs Mark Jackson and Kenny Anderson. While still attending Abraham Lincoln High School he was one of the subjects of Darcy Frey's book "The Last Shot," which followed three seniors and Marbury, a freshman, through the early months of his first season with the school's team. In high school he played for the nationally recognized AAU team, the New York Gauchos, out of the Bronx.

Marbury was an NBA All-Star in 2001 and 2003 and an All-NBA Third Team member in 2003. Known for his quickness, ball handling and inside scoring, he stands as only the second player in NBA history to have career averages of at least 20 points and 8 assists per game (Oscar Robertson was the first, with career averages of 25.7 points and 9.5 assists per game).

College recruitment

Recruited by every major university, Marbury was named a 1995 McDonalds All-American along with future NBA All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, and Antawn Jamison. Marbury was listed as one of the top five recruits in the country that year and heavily pursued by Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. Eventually, Marbury would commit to GT.

College career

At Georgia Tech, Marbury took over the starting point guard role left vacant with Travis Best's departure. Teaming with future NBA players Matt Harpring and Drew Barry, Marbury led Georgia Tech to a 24-12 record enroute to the Regional Semifinal game of the NCAA tournament, where the Yellow Jackets lost to Cincinnati 87-70. For the season, Marbury averaged 18.9 ppg and 4.5 assists and was named a Third Team All American by the Associated Press, along with several conference honors. Following the conclusion of the season he announced his intention to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft. Used to hang out with long time friends Dan Piscina, Carl Pratt and Andy O.

Early professional career

Marbury was selected fourth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1996 NBA Draft, then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the draft rights to Ray Allen and a future first-round pick. In his first season in the league, Marbury averaged 15.8 points and 7.8 assists per game and was named to the 1997 All-Rookie Team. He, along with Kevin Garnett, led the Timberwolves to the NBA Playoffs in 1997 and 1998. Marbury fell out with Timberwolves management over his contract and during the lockout-shortened 1999 season, Marbury was traded to the New Jersey Nets in a three-way trade in which Terrell Brandon was sent from Milwaukee to Minnesota and Sam Cassell was sent from New Jersey to Milwaukee. There was much talk about Stephon's departure from Minnesota. He claimed that he wanted to be closer to home (New York), but others believe that he didn't want to be the second man behind Kevin Garnett.

New Jersey and Phoenix

After two years in New Jersey, Marbury was traded to the Phoenix Suns for point guard Jason Kidd. Teamed with standout players such as Shawn Marion and Amare Stoudemire, the Suns qualified for the playoffs in 2003. However, Stoudemire became injured in the beginning of the 2003-2004 season, and Phoenix struggled to a 3-15 start.

While a member of the Suns, Marbury was arrested for driving under the influence. A police report stated that Marbury was clocked at 75 mph in a 50 mph zone and that his speech was slurred and his breath smelled like alcohol. Marbury had a blood alcohol level of .153. He pled no contest to extreme DUI, served 10 days in jail and attended alcohol education classes. This arrest was seen as a possible motive for Marbury's trade to New York, as the team had just gotten over the incident of Jason Kidd's arrest.

Return to New York

Marbury, along with Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski, was traded to the New York Knicks on January 5, 2004 for Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe, draft rights to Milos Vujanic, a first-round 2004 draft choice, and an additional future first-round draft choice. This brought Marbury full circle, as he grew up in New York and was a lifelong Knicks fan. He made an immediate impact, leading a Knicks team in transition to the playoffs on the strength of his performances.

Marbury played for the United States (Dream Team IV) in the 2004 Summer Olympics, the first of the US teams comprised of NBA players to fail to win the gold medal. He and his teammates returned with bronze. Despite the disappointment, Marbury scored an Olympic record 31 points in a game against Spain.

During the 2005-2006 season Marbury continued to play relatively well even as the Knicks found it extremely difficult to win as a team under new coach Larry Brown.

Towards the end of the 2005-2006 season, the Knicks' poor performance combined with Marbury's public spats with his coach led to a severe decline in Marbury's popularity, with Frank Isola and Michael O'Keefe of the New York Daily News stating that Marbury is "the most reviled athlete in New York."

The public feud between Marbury and Brown was one of the reasons Larry Brown was fired at the end of the 05-06 season. Isiah Thomas took over the coaching role and the Knicks have been significantly more successful this year, surpassing last year's 23 wins 54 games into their 82 game season, and although Marbury is having a less effective statistical season, pundits have credited his newfound unselfishness as a major reason why the Knicks have become a better team.

Marbury is married to LaTasha Frieson and they have two children, Xaviera and Stephon, II. He has a daughter named Stephaine Marbury from another woman.

Marbury is the cousin of current Boston Celtics point guard Sebastian Telfair.

Marbury is on the cover of the Midway video game NBA Ballers.

Marbury is also known to count many non-basketball celebrities among his friends. The point guard has been spotted hanging out with entertainers Ja Rule and Nick Cannon, as well as members of the New York based rap group Terror Squad and its leader, Fat Joe. In 2003 and 2004 Marbury led Joe's Terror Squad team to the championship of Fat Joe's annual streetball competition, The Entertainer's Basketball League.

He has been named to The Sporting News list of "Good Guys in Sports" three times. He was one of the highest donors to the NBA Player Associations Katrina Relief effort, donating 1 million dollars to the effort.[citation needed] He currently has 7 barbers on hire in Coney Island giving free haircuts to neighborhood children.

Recently, Marbury partnered with Steve & Barry's to promote a line of shoes and clothing bearing his nickname, "Starbury". Understanding the pressure that inner-city kids face to spend $150-$200 on footwear sold by other companies such as Nike, Reebok, and Adidas, his line of shoes will sell for $14.98. He will be wearing these shoes on court for the entirety of 2006-07 season. Marbury is not being paid to endorse the shoes, but will be compensated based solely on how well they sell. Now, Marbury has promised to give out a free pair of Starbury ones to every high school varsity basketball player in New York City.
Source : Wikipedia