New York-born basketball star Stephon Marbury has shrugged off the sensation caused by his application for a Chinese "green card", saying he has long made Beijing his home away from home regardless of his residence status.(File photo; CNTV)
Former NBA star Stephon Marbury has been speaking to CCTV News about his life in Beijing, and how he enjoys living here in the Chinese capital.
Last Friday, Marbury confirmed to his fans, via his Weibo account, that he'd applied for a Chinese "green card", or permanent residence. Once a lone wolf in NBA, the 38-year-old American is a popular man in Beijing. He was named as one of the capital's 10 "model citizens" in 2014 and is an honorary citizen. Fresh off winning his third championship in the Chinese basketball league, Marbury was honored with a special postage stamp, in a ceremony at the National Museum of China last weekend.
6 years ago, he left a 20 million US-dollar NBA contract behind to play basketball in Beijing.
Before the CBA play-offs, Marbury was not up to his usual standards, he was averaging a career CBA low of 16.3 points a game, which included two contests where he didn't even register a point.
That had many questioning the 38-year-old, and assumed that he had already reached his peak.
However, when the post-season kicked in, things changed dramatically, as the American upped his output and averaged 24 points a game.
And he took that up a notch in the finals when he managed to average 29 points per game in the Championship series, proving that he was the most reliable when his team needed him most.
