Marbury finally out of New York – Next stop Boston?

The Stephon Marbury fiasco in New York is finally over.  The petulant point guard and the Knicks reached a buyout agreement on Tuesday afternoon.  Since the buyout deal was consummated early enough, Marbury will be eligible for the playoff roster for any team that wants to sign him once he clears waivers which will happen by mid-day Friday. 

His teammates had long ago turned the page, so Marbury’s formal departure was met with the proverbial ‘outpouring of apathy’.  Knicks forward David Lee commented:

"He hasn't really been seen in a little while. Almost somewhat of a dead issue for us because we knew at some point it would probably happen."

Knicks’ head coach Mike D’Antoni said the ‘official’ end to the Marbury soap opera had little impact on his team since the situation ceased being a distraction some time ago:

"It's not like, 'Oh, now we can really play basketball, we're not distracted.' We weren't distracted before."

After a series of insubordinate antics throughout the early part of the season—when he played little and ran his mouth a lot—Marbury was ordered to stay away from the team on December 1^st by Knicks President Donnie Walsh.  Shortly thereafter, the two sides began to hammer out a contract buyout agreement with greater urgency.  Marbury was scheduled to make $20.8 million this year, and he reportedly agreed to give up $2 million of that to facilitate his emancipation.  Under the arcane rules of the NBA salary cap, however, the Knicks will have freed up $4 million worth of cap room. 

The speculation now turns toward Marbury’s next basketball destination.  During the Boston Celtics’ late December/early January ‘mini-slump’, Marbury’s name circulated extensively.  The thinking was his presence would give the Celtics some much needed bench depth in the backcourt, and that his athleticism would be a good compliment to the speed and finesse of Rajon Rondo.  Once Boston started winning, the urgency died down but apparently the Celtics’ interest in the troubled point guard remained. 

Boston is gambling that their locker room leadership is strong enough to keep Marbury in line and to not allow him to become a detriment to team chemistry.  Marbury has a relationship with Kevin Garnett from their days in Minnesota, and Garnett has reportedly indicated that he has no issues with his former running mate joining the team. 

As far as the Knicks, the water passed under the bridge a long time ago.  Forward Quentin Richardson was among Marbury’s harshest critics this season but he had little to say after the buyout was announced:

"We'll see. I don't know. I don't know what he's been doing. I assume he's been working out or whatever. I mean, only thing I can say is time will tell. Good luck to him."