The Knicks have suspended Stephon Marbury without pay for one game after he refused to play for the second time in six days Wednesday night in Detroit.
"A player's central obligation is to provide his professional services when called upon," Knicks president Donnie Walsh said in a statement released by the team. "Because he refused the coach's request to play in the team's last game, we had no choice but to impose disciplinary action."
This Knicks will practice this morning at their Westchester County training facility without Marbury, and a person familiar with the situation has told CBSSports.com that his absence will be permanent. The one-game suspension -- which will cost Marbury $199,091 -- will give Walsh and Marbury's representatives time to negotiate his permanent removal from the team.
UPDATED 11:47 a.m. EST: In addition, the Knicks have clarified that Marbury actually will lose two games' pay -- or almost $400,000. Besides the one-game suspension without pay for refusing to play at Detroit on Wednesday night, Marbury also has been fined another game check for refusing to play last Friday at Milwaukee.
This nonsense has reached the end. For one thing, it is no longer only coach Mike D'Antoni confronting Marbury. Knicks players, led by Quentin Richardson, scorched him in the New York media after his refusal to play in Detroit. And now Walsh, a deliberative, fair, and patient man who also happens to be a lawyer, is on board.
Clearly, Marbury knows his run with the Knicks is over. He broke his relative silence in an exclusive interview with a New York Post reporter whose coverage has been favorable to the Coney Island native. In an article published today, Marbury said of D'Antoni, "I wouldn't trust him to walk my dog across the street."
Guess that means the game is on -- and over, at the same time.
