Stephon Marbury Quotes

“When you’re a good person, good things happen to you.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Consistency is always the best teacher.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My heart is filled with love for my new extended family – the billion-plus people in China who have shown me nothing but unconditional love.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I got so used to using chopsticks that using a fork and knife is weird.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’ve been defending myself since I left Minnesota. Because I didn’t comply to what they wanted, then it was like, ‘Oh, I’m selfish. I’m this. I’m that.’ I’m like, ‘How can that be? You were just about to give me $71 million! Who gives someone $71 million, and they’re selfish, and they’re jealous of Kevin Garnett and all of this stupid stuff?’”

― Stephon Marbury

“Nothing can compare to my experience in China. My situation is fortunate because I actually love it there, and I love it because of the people. For what they did to me, I’m forever invested into that country. Living there has been great for me and great for my life.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I drink life’s happy water, which is bottled at the divine source.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When you’re happy, and you’re smiling people don’t like that. That’s why I smile all the time.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I still want to see the Knicks do well; I do. I promise I do. That’s my team. After all the stuff that happened, people say to me, ‘You still like the Knicks?’ Well, that’s just the way it is. That’s what happens when you’re a kid. Your team is your team, and everything is die-hard.”

― Stephon Marbury

“You’ve just got to win in China – that’s it. Winning is like good deodorant. When you don’t win, it’s like you stink; you smell.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My favorite point guard, growing up, was Magic Johnson. The reason why I say that is he was a winner, and he did everything in his power to make his teammates better. That’s what the game is all about as a point guard.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I think it’s tough that we build Michael Vick up, and then we break him down. I think he’s one of the superb athletes, and he’s a good human being.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I had to deal with so many haters.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m a real Knick fan, not a fake fan.”

― Stephon Marbury

“The ‘New York Daily News’ called me the most reviled athlete ever in sports history in New York. I don’t listen to them.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I would say my hardest opponent that I have to face has to be probably Rod Strickland. He’s very strong. He’s a guy who gets to the basket, and when his jump shot is on, it’s really hard to stop him.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I give everybody respect. There’s nobody in the NBA who I disrespect because on any given night, you’re liable to get lit up.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Everyone starts the playoffs with the same record. It doesn’t matter who won 70 games or whatever.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m a black kid from the ghetto of Coney Island, Brooklyn, who only ever dreamed of playing in the NBA. So to have that dream come true but then go on this second journey in China… it’s so far beyond anything that kid could have imagined.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Playing basketball is second nature to me; acting I found far more challenging.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I look at a guy like The Rock – how he started with his natural ability in sports but gravitated into Hollywood – as a model for what’s possible.”

― Stephon Marbury

“China is home now.”

― Stephon Marbury

“With Starbury, we are trying to do something for the community and make a product that everyone can afford.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Playing basketball at MSG is a lot of fun when you are winning, but when you are not, it’s not fun.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When you look at organizations that work, everyone is on the same page as far as what they are doing.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I go on the court to win, and that is it.”

― Stephon Marbury

“From what I hear, dogfighting is a sport. It’s just behind closed doors.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When I get on the basketball court, there’s not too many things I can’t do.”

― Stephon Marbury

“The name of the game is put the ball in the hole.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When I was younger, I had a different disposition as far as how I wanted to live life.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Basketball’s always been something that I loved.”

― Stephon Marbury

“It was a steppingstone. The NBA, for me, was preparation for me to do something someplace else.”

― Stephon Marbury

“People don’t even know how hard it is to play in China. People think it is easy for the foreign players, but it is really not. It’s difficult.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I have three championships in a country where I don’t speak the language.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My numbers are Hall of Fame.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Whenever you’ve got an inside presence, it makes the game extremely easy.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I love Coney Island. I saw all different kinds of people – Russian, Italian, black, Puerto Rican, rich people in Sea Gate and in the co-ops. You’d see people in the co-ops or in the houses, and it was like, Man, I wish I could have this. I wish my mother and father could buy me this. Me being an independent thinker, I was like, I’m gonna get that.”

― Stephon Marbury

“College players make money for the colleges. You think they spend all that recruiting money to get the best students? Come on.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I learned more in that first year in the NBA than I could have in four years of college.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Rucker is love.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I love the Chinese people.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I was born in church. I was raised in church.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m a God-fearing man.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My Beijing jersey means more to me than any of them.”

― Stephon Marbury

“All those places that I’ve played at is a preparation for me to come to Beijing.”

― Stephon Marbury

“For me, my Beijing jersey will be the jersey that I will retire here in China.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m from the housing projects, where people can’t afford $150 shoes.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Making a difference has always been most important to Starbury because it takes lots of care and thought to do so.”

― Stephon Marbury

“There’s a difference when you want something and when you need something.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I shoot to win because I shoot to win, and that’s it.”

― Stephon Marbury

“China is the best. Since I moved there, my life has been amazing. The best time of my life. Not even close. I guess this was how it was all supposed to go down.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Losing exposes character, and winning breeds it.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Going to a foreign country, winning championships, having a statue, getting a green card, the key to the city, a museum – that’s not something I can say I could ever see happening.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I think going to another country and being able to evolve past my thinking and what actually went on in America was a little bit different from what athletes experience here in America.”

― Stephon Marbury

“For me, it’s vital to continue to share my experiences and allow my experiences to help the younger generation.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’ve been through a lot of different things, experienced a lot of different things.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My mission on this planet hasn’t changed. I want to nurture the planet, to guide the planet, to help the planet.”

― Stephon Marbury

“New York is a Show Me state. We’re like Missouri.”

― Stephon Marbury

“If I didn’t play the way how I played, I wouldn’t have gotten no max contract.”

― Stephon Marbury

“God is love, and love is love.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I feel forever debted to China.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I play basketball; I actually like the triangle. It opens things up if you know how to move without the ball and know how to cut. That’s the game you learn in high school and younger – pass, cut – basically the fundamentals of basketball, which makes it extremely difficult to guard.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Coaching – get a guy like Phil Jackson, you expect the coaching to change right away and things to change right away. Ultimately, it takes a lot of time.”

― Stephon Marbury

“It’s New York – it comes with it. If you can’t deal with it, you leave. If you lose, they talk about you. When you win, they love you.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Coaching is something I want to do.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Coming to Beijing, throughout all of what has happened and the success I have gained, I look at it as I was just fortunate and blessed.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Acting is definitely something I want to do after I finish playing basketball.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Everything has changed since I came to China.”

― Stephon Marbury

“You leave America, then you go someplace else, you begin to create something totally different.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When I see a sneaker for over $400, for me, that’s kind of brainless because it doesn’t cost that much to make.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I think Lonzo Ball will be good because he has a great foundation of how he plays the game.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I want to make sure that people can always have affordable shoes to wear.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I grew up one of seven kids, and my mom couldn’t afford to get us any of the $150 shoes.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My on-court temperament is totally to just win and destroy.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When I’m on the court in New York, I’m laying everything out. It means so much.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I always wanted the Acura Legend Coupe.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Carmelo Anthony is one of the best players in the NBA.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m a max player. Don’t get mad at me because I’m telling you what’s real. One plus one is two, all day long, and it’s never gonna change. And that’s factorial.”

― Stephon Marbury

“For me, I love the path that I have taken on. I take all of my experiences; I eliminate all of the bad and take all of the positive.”

― Stephon Marbury

“There’s no other player that’s playing basketball on this earth that has accomplished some of the things I’ve accomplished, and it’s all through showing love and winning championships.”

― Stephon Marbury

“When I went to Boston, I tell people all the time, being able to be in that arena with those banners hanging up, it excited me.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’ve won in the game of life.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Me playing for the Knicks is not realistic.”

― Stephon Marbury

“What China has done for me, it was something that I needed. It wasn’t something that I wanted.”

― Stephon Marbury

“People ask me about China all the time. You gotta come to China to see for yourself.”

― Stephon Marbury

“It’s easy to love people who love you.”

― Stephon Marbury

“One person can’t bring you to the playoffs or win a championship.”

― Stephon Marbury

“My sister had been praying for me since I was born: my sister, Stephanie, my namesake. That’s what she is to me; my namesake – Stephanie, Stephon. Stephanie – that’s my daughter’s name. I kept it in the family.”

― Stephon Marbury

“It’s the Basketball Hall of Fame, not the NBA Hall of Fame. So, for basketball, I played in Olympics; I played in the Junior Olympics. With what I’ve done and given to basketball is all Hall of Fame.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’ve always watched the NBA growing up.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I always watched Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, and I said I could be playing on the court with them.”

― Stephon Marbury

“You have to have a lot of good players to win a championship.”

― Stephon Marbury

“You can’t win the chess match if you don’t have enough pieces.”

― Stephon Marbury

“New York basketball is about defense.”

― Stephon Marbury

“The NBA and college are two totally different games.”

― Stephon Marbury

“A panther is quick and smart and always alert to everything. He’s sitting on top of a mountain, with the sun and the clouds. That’s where I want to see myself.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I learned to treat everybody with respect. I’ve learned to be focused, be a professional person, the kind who is always an honor to be around.”

― Stephon Marbury

“Jeanie Buss – I love her with all my heart. I’d take my heart out and give it to her. That’s how ill she is. I love that lady.”

― Stephon Marbury

“I’m going to set up a foundation for the world. I’m going to take the money and start building cities all over the world. I’m a comet.”

― Stephon Marbury