Stephon Marbury Comments on 'What If' He Stayed with Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves

Stephon Marbury lasted only two-plus seasons next to Kevin Garnett in Minnesota before demanding a trade closer to his New York roots.

It doesn't appear he regrets it one bit.

Marbury appeared on Scoop B Radio and said he doesn't think about "what if" he had stayed with the Timberwolves:

"I really don't play the 'what if' game because 'if' doesn't really exist. But playing with Kev was always fun. I loved playing with Kev. I loved playing in Minnesota. I just couldn't give seven years of my life living in Minnesota. I grew up in New York in the melting pot where there's Black, White, Chinese, Puerto Rican, Italian – all different types of races. And entering Minnesota, it's predominately white. After me leaving Georgia Tech where I lived in Atlanta. So you go from a melting pot, to a place where there is a lot of black people to where you go where it's six percent black people, it was a culture shock to me. So I was evaluating my life. Not just basketball.

"I'm not saying that I couldn't have stayed there and played there, but with the snow, how cold it was (it was like 40 below), you'll wake up and on some days you'll go outside and if you don't have this-and-this, you could die. I'm like, 'I don't want to die from this – I know I'm going to die one day, but I don't wanna die from going outside to my car' … Now if my car stops working and I got on jeans and a regular jacket and I can't – and I don't have all the things I'm supposed to have in the car which you should –blankets and all of those different things… it was just a different way of living and I wasn't really down with it. Like going ice fishing and all of that. It really wasn't something I was down for. Now I'm older so I can adjust to anything, right? But it was a different thing at 18-19 years old. It was great though."

The Wolves traded Marbury to the then-New Jersey Nets in a three-way deal that brought back Terrell Brandon. Minnesota, which made the playoffs in each of Marbury's two-plus seasons with the team, made the postseason each of the next five years but made it past the first round once. 

Marbury blossomed into an All-Star in New Jersey, but his career soon became an odyssey of failed potential and feuding with organizations. He spent no more than three seasons with Minnesota, New Jersey or Phoenix before a five-year stint with the New York Knicks—during most of which he was as a contractual albatross amid one of the franchise's darkest stretches.

Marbury turned his career around after leaving the NBA for China, becoming one of the greatest, most beloved players in CBA history.