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Darius Acuff Jr. grew up watching film of Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury, dreaming about starring in highlight reels of his own. "We feel like we can go out there and play against anybody," Acuff told ESPN about the mentality of 6-foot-2 Brunson. "I feel like I can hopefully do the same thing one day and it's definitely inspiring to see."
Starks said that during the 2023-24 season, Knicks owner James Dolan began reserving 14 courtside baseline seats for former players. The act started to get attention on TV during the 2025 Eastern Conference finals when the Knicks played the Indiana Pacers, and former Knicks such as Starks, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury and others were seen cheering enthusiastically.
“For one, I don’t think nobody else could do it,” former Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who starred for New York from 2011-17, told Andscape. “I haven’t seen no other organization do that. It’s only in New York where I’ve seen them bring back the legends of the game. Once a Knick, always a Knick. Everybody is sitting there. You got Clyde at the table calling the game. P.E. [Patrick Ewing] to Starks to my generation watching the new generation. It’s super fun. “You become a fan. You become a fan of the [former Knicks]. You become a fan of Bernard King sitting next to Pat and talking about when he used to play, sitting next to [Stephon] Marbury talking about when he used to play. That camaraderie. You can’t buy that.”
Stephon Marbury: "I left Flip and Flip, I never forget he was like, the grass ain't always green in other places stuff on and I know how you feel and blah, blah, blah and I was like, you know, this is not really about basketball. It was more about my mental. It was more about like I almost died there several times on black ice driving. The fans were great, amazing. I felt like I got a little trick when I went there in the summertime because I went right after draft. I went right after the draft. I flew there. I was like, oh my god, this is crazy. This is a great city."
Stephon Marbury: "I think communication was lackluster because I left one place where I had a father figure in Flip Saunders and it was structurally set up the proper way, which is why I see why a lot of people they get upset about me leaving and going to another team. I think for me, I had someone who educated me in the game of basketball. He taught me the game the proper way from every angle, from every aspect, from pick and rolls, from when you're supposed to, from foul line extended, coming off tight, one two dribble, no hop, all of these little things in basketball that you need to know in order to be able to go on the court to dominate."
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Stephon Marbury: "I'm the one that started And1. They never had shoes until I got with And1. So I had the first signature shoe. They were t-shirts. So once doing that, after doing that, once I had the opportunity to be able to work with a company like Steve & Barry's at the time who had such a big platform in which they sold products to everybody, but mainly the university students who couldn't afford to spend monies that they didn't have for all of the other expensive brands."
Stephon Marbury: "Which NBA player started doing all of what you guys are doing, this and also I'm the people that told all of the people that they were going to do all of what they're doing with social media now. They're taking their phone, doing all of what they're doing right now, taking their phone, looking at their phone. I was doing all of that stuff in 2007."
I reached Stephon Marbury by phone this morning to dig deeper into the disconnect between his current reality and the media’s memory. Now 49, Marbury sounds like a man who has found peace, yet remains fiercely protective of his narrative. He views Stefan Bondy’s critique not as a sports take, but as a failure to recognize human growth. “I can understand that there was a feeling from that time,” Marbury told me. “But I would love to sit down man to man and ask him why do you have an issue with how I cheer? Everybody will know what the true feeling really is. I don’t think I’m being celebrated, I’m showing how I feel about my hometown team. It’s so new.”
“What’s the story? This is the new story. This is Stephon Marbury the person, not Stephon Marbury the player,” he emphasized. “Athletes have a voice and you no longer can tear people down just because of past mistakes.” He ended our call with a pointed message regarding the “gatekeeping” of New York sports culture: “And for the record, if you were not born on New York soil and you’re writing about New York kids, make sure you keep the volume down.”
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Kevin Garnett: “I’m still friends with Sam Cassell, Spreewell, Gary Trent, T-Hudson, and Trenton Hassell. Those are my guys. Whenever I see any of the guys — Wally, too — I haven’t seen Wally since he’s been doing his CBS stuff, but I see he’s killing it on podcasting and broadcasting. That doesn’t surprise me. Wally always spoke well and knew how to do great interviews. Whenever I see any of the guys, man, it’s all love. Steph — when I see Steph, I said... I went to China, ran into Steph, saw him. We did an event together. It was dope. It was dope to kind of go to the side. We went to dinner, chopped it up like some real ones, cleared a lot of space, a lot of dead air that needed to be cleared, and got on the same page.
Kevin Garnett: So I wanted to soak up all of that. I wanted to soak up, you know, what did I need to do to change the trajectory and to make the Timberwolves like how I’m looking at the Twins when they talk about Kirby Puckett, or when they talking about the Vikings and Randy Moss, or when they talking about albums and sales and, you know, just excellence. That’s what I wanted Minneapolis to be. And then Steph comes here. Do you understand? Not only trying to make the league, but we make the league, and then my best friend in life—come on, man. Steph, I’m still mad at Steph about that. Shout out to Steph, though. My dog. We’ve already talked. Yeah. Bygones, bygones. We grown now.
The NBA announced on Monday that basketball legends Tim Hardaway Sr, Stephon Marbury, Shawn Marion, Shaquille O'Neal, Mitch Richmond and Deron Williams will headline the first-ever NBA House event to be held in China, set to take place in Macao from Oct 8 – 12. An interactive fan event and immersive basketball experience celebrating the convergence of basketball, music, fashion and technology, NBA House will be held at The Venetian, Macao, in conjunction with the NBA China Games 2025 presented by Taobao 88VIP.
Jorge Sierra: Stephen Curry passed Stephon Marbury in assists last night and is now Top 30 on the all-time list. Also: CJ McCollum is Top 20 in three-pointers ahead of Joe Johnson.