**Nate Robinson played the point down the stretch to lead the Knicks, 99-91, over Detroit. Read it here**
NEW YORK – Stephon Marbury will play professional basketball again.
In China.
The two-time NBA-All Star has agreed to play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) with China’s Shanxi Club, according to a Reuters report.
Marbury, 32, hasn’t played since leaving the Boston Celtics after last year. The Shanxi team website (www.sxcba.com) said Marbury would arrive sometime next week.
“The aim of signing Marbury is to pay back our fans and try to win more games in the rest of the season,” Shanxi boss Wang Xingjiang said on the team’s website.
Wang also said that Marbury wanted to promote his “Starbury” shoes in China, the world’s most populated nation.
Former NBA player Bonzi Wells played for Shanxi last season, scoring 50 points in a game. But Wells did not return to the team after a holiday break in January.
“It was a big cultural shock to me for the first few weeks,” Wells said, according to Agence France Presse.
“Since I have been here it has been all business and I haven’t had any fun yet, so I am looking for some fun.”
Shanxi is currently 15th in the 17-team league and the arrival of Marbury is expected to boost ticket sales and the team’s prospects of making the postseason.
Marbury’s Twitter feed makes no specific mention of the China deal, but he did say, “I have some things that are brewing.”
CURRY OUT 6 WEEKS WITH SURGERY
Eddy Curry will undergo arthroscopic debridement Monday afternoon to remove loose cartilage in his knee.
The Knicks announced that rehabilitation will start within a week and is expected to be out approximately six weeks.
“It’s hard to say what’s going to happen six weeks from now. He’ll do his operation, he’ll come back, he’ll ready to go. And at that time we’ll assess what’s going on with the team, what’s going on with him and look at him. And then we’ll make a decision each day. Each day might change,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said.
The 7-foot Curry has played in just seven games this season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.9 rebounds.
This latest development likely means the Knicks cannot trade Curry and his $11.3 million salary for 2010-11 before the Feb. 18 trade deadline.
(Photo courtesy NBA.com; Reuters contributed)
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