Stephon Marbury Announces Retirement Plans for After 2017-18 CBA Season

Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury announced Saturday he's planning to retire from basketball after the 2017-18 Chinese Basketball Association season.

The 40-year-old New York native posted a message on Twitter about his decision. He played 13 years in the NBA before heading to China, where he's captured three championships with the Beijing Ducks:

The player affectionately known as Starbury enjoyed a steady rise to stardom. He was a top recruit out of Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, a top prospect during his time at Georgia Tech and a member of the 1997 NBA All-Rookie First Team after being the fourth overall pick in the 1996 draft.

His outspoken approach didn't always fit in well at the NBA level, though. That's one reason he ended up playing for five different teams—the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics—before heading overseas.

At times during that journey, Marbury's production left him among the league's elite. He was named to the All-NBA Third Team twice (1999-00 and 2002-03) and got selected to a pair of All-Star Games (2001 and 2003). He also led the NBA in assists for the 2003-04 campaign.

In all, he averaged 19.3 points, 7.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals across 846 games before his time in the NBA ended after the 2008-09 season with the Celtics.

While he faded from the American sports spotlight in recent years, his global star continued to shine during his time in China. He played for Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons and Foshan Dralions before joining Beijing, where his CBA career took off.

Marbury was named Finals MVP after the Ducks' most recent championship triumph in 2015. It's an accolade that joins six CBA All-Star nods, an All-Star Game MVP award and being chosen as the league's foreign MVP in 2013 on his resume.

He told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated in December his decision to speak out about topics he felt strongly about, including the price of Michael Jordan's signature shoes when he was the face of the NBA, ultimately had a negative impact on him.

"It was basically set in stone of who they were going to push and how they were going to push them … ," Marbury said. "The people who complained, who had strong personalities, were basically speaking truth and what's real instead of falling back, just staying quiet and not being penalized for it. Guys now have more of a voice."

As for the future, he explained to Spears he's got a much better relationship with current NBA commissioner Adam Silver than he did with his predecessor, David Stern. That's opened doors for possible involvement with the league once his playing days end, but he's not sure what he'll do.

"I'm going to talk to someone soon from NBA China first," Marbury said.

For now, he'll spend the CBA offseason getting prepared for one more opportunity to showcase his on-court skills, which have held up well over the past two decades.