Stephon Marbury Belongs In The Basketball Hall Of Fame

Marbury was one-and-done at Georgia Tech before the term existed, and selected fourth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks (then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Ray Allen). He was taken ahead of future Hall of Famers Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and Jermaine O’Neal. Draft position does not determine credibility for the HOF, but it’s important to note how good a player Marbury was when he first came into the league. He was certainly not a bust either, averaging 19.3 points, 7.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game over the course of his 846-game career. He was also an all-star twice.

Chauncey Billups was inducted last summer, and Tony Parker the year before. Statistically speaking, they were inferior to Marbury. Billups averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 assists, and 1.0 steals in 1,043 career games, while Parker averaged 15.5, 5.6, and 0.8 in 1,254 games. While both players won championships, and Marbury did not, neither player was the best player on their team at any point. Their titles were a team achievement, and not driven by them individually (do not be distracted by Parker’s Finals MVP). Billups also played to age 37 and Parker to age 36 in the NBA, while Marbury’s final season, he was just 31.

That is not a knock on Marbury, but it builds a stronger case for him. That’s because his final playing days were spent in China, where he played 225 games, averaging 19.9 points and 5.5 assists per game. He led the Beijing Ducks to three titles (2012, 2014, and 2015). He was the Finals MVP of the 2015 team. Dino Radja is in the Basketball Hall of Fame as an “international player”, since he only played 224 games in his NBA career. FIBA’s website says Radjas played 32 games for his country and 80 for overseas club teams, averaging 18.1 points per game.

Radja’s Croatian teammate Toni Kukoc won three titles with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Like Marbury, he also had an 846-game NBA career, but averaged just 11 points per game. He was elected as an international player, like Radja, having played 13 games for his country and 22 games for club teams abroad. Marbury’s NBA career was better than both players’, and so was his international career. When added together, if Billups, Parker, Radja, and Kukoc are in the Hall, why isn’t Marbury?

Stephon Marbury’s Effect On The Game

Yao Ming was elected to the Hall of Fame not because of his NBA career or his international career, but because of the global impact he had on the game. A case could be made that the impact Marbury had was greater than Ming’s. He was the league’s first streetballer of the 90’s, opening doors for players like Rafer Alston. In fact, the And1 Mixtape that Alston has to credit his career for would not have existed if not for Marbury.

Before Marbury entered the NBA, And1 was a company known for T-shirts with catchy basketball sayings like “The First Mistake Was Asking Me To Play”. They were initially sold out of a car trunk before quickly gaining popularity and being added to chain store windows. Marbury was their first NBA spokesman, and the first show they ever produced was his signature model. His style of play and popularity gave the company leverage to brand themselves as the ambassadors of streetball.

Marbury was also the inspiration for the movie He Got Game, starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen, directed by Spike Lee. The title character, Jesus Shuttlesworth, was from Coney Island (like Marbury) and recruited by every college team in the country, and even the pro teams (also like Marbury). Marbury also created the Starbury sneaker. Sold at Steve and Barry’s for under $20, the shoe offered an affordable option for underprivileged players, while other stars’ shoes sold for eight times as much.

End Of My Stephon Marbury Rant

Marbury has the career NBA numbers to get in, the career international numbers to get in, and the influence on the game to get in. There is simply no good reason or excuse for his omission, and hopefully, in 2026, voters will get their heads out of their orifice located closer to the ground. He may not be a first-ballot HOFer, but there is no denying that he deserves to get in.