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Breaking ties is inevitable for Knicks and Marbury
by Marc Narducci / November 2, 2008

Stephon Marbury still feels he has some quality basketball left in him. His employer -the New York Knicks- doesn’t totally disagree but feels his services would be better served elsewhere.

Thus is the standoff between faded star and fumbling franchise that is attempting to make that long leap back to respectability.

And right now the situation isn’t easy for either side. One thing seems to be for sure is that the once promising marriage between the Knicks and Marbury is over. How this will be settled remains an intriguing question.

New coach Mike D'Antoni has brought an upbeat offense and attitude to the Knicks. D’Antoni has never said that he thinks Marbury is finished, skill-wise. It’s just that the first-year Knicks coach feels the franchise and Marbury are both better off moving on.

The thinking is that when the Knicks become a competitive team - which based on Friday’s 116-87 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers could still take quite some time - that Marbury won’t be a factor in the organization.

The simple solution would appear to be to give Marbury his walking paper, but nothing is that easy in the convoluted world of the NBA where players such as Marbury are handsomely compensated for doing little more than showing up for work.

Marbury is in the final year of his contract and will be paid $21.9 million this season whether he plays or not. So it’s hard to conjure up too much sympathy, or any at all for Marbury.

He cash his checks whether he spends his season as a DNP Coach’s decision, or on the inactive list. Anything else would seem to be a stretch.

The Knicks at this point don’t want to let Marbury go for nothing, although trading him would be extremely difficult because the way teams over the salary cap must come close to matching salaries in NBA deals. Teams over the cap can acquire up to 125% plus $100,000 of the salaries they are trading.

So if the Knicks trade Marbury, they have to take a lot of salary back. Marbury’s greatest value is that the Knicks would be able to rid his massive salary off next year’s salary cap. And of course the Knicks goal is to get below the salary cap by the summer of 2010 to make an offer for one of many expected stars to be available, not the least is LeBron James.

Now comes the most difficult part. Which side will blink first?.

The Knicks could attempt to buy him out, but again, Marbury realizes that this is his last mega payday and hasn’t indicated that he would be inclined to give the Knicks a discount.

Yet this doesn’t appear to be a situation that the Knicks will let linger for a long time. This type of distraction could have a negative impact on a team.

The sooner they cut ties with Marbury, the better they can proceed to compete in the D’Antoni/Donnie Walsh era.

For his part, Marbury is displaying intelligent tactics in this standoff. He has been saying all the right things, acting l ike a model citizen. This way he is putting the ball in the Knicks court.

What is a little puzzling is that the Knicks gave Marbury extensive time in the preseason. He averaged just under 21 minutes per game.

Then came the Knicks opener with Miami, a 120-115 win over the Heat and Marbury never left the bench, a DNP Coach’s decision. He was then deactivated for the second game against Philadelphia. Until this is resolved, his status as a deactivated player appears to be the norm.

D’Antoni has told reporters that Marbury hasn’t done anything wrong but that the Knicks are going in a different direction.

The feeling is that since the Knicks would never bring him back after his contract expires, that he would only be hindering the development of the younger players.

The only problem is that right now the Knicks don’t have a markedly better alternative. Chris Duhon is the starting point guard and he is only armed with a two-year contract, so one doesn’t know if he is the future either.

Still, Marbury’s days as a contributor to the Knicks are over. There are still NBA teams that would certainly look to sign him if he were available, but nobody would give anything of substance for a player that they believe could be had for nothing when the Knicks finally release him.

Marc Narducci s a frequent contributor to HoopsHype.com

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