Stephon Ducking Marbury & Other Basketball Terms You Need to Know

Stephon Marbury(马布里) joined the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in 2009 as his career in the U.S. was waning. He was just 32 and in the middle of a $20 million a year contract with the Knicks - but disputes with coaches, sex with an intern, and online meltdowns were overshadowing his game. Marbury said coming to China "was like being reborn again." He has now won three national championships for the Beijing Ducks.

Jiao Yu, the principal of Sinology Institute, gives some of his strong opinions on Beijing Ducks player Stephon Marbury:

  1. 在CBA打球的只有两种外国人，一种是马布里，一种是外援。
    China Basketball Association has two types of foreigners: one is Stephon Marbury, the other is everyone else.
  2. 北京队终于可以吃北京烤鸭了，马布里也可以！
    The Beijing team can finally eat Peking Duck* as well as Stephon Marbury!
  3. 北京篮球队和马布里一起创造了一个传奇？有人说是“王朝”。
    The Beijing basketball team and Stephon Marbury created a legacy together. Some people say it is a dynasty.
  4. 北京人听说马布里以前在NBA是个坏家伙……所以他们更喜欢他了。
    Beijingers heard that Stephon Marbury was a troublemaker in the NBA so they liked him even more.
  5. 他改变了他身边的年轻人，也改变了北京队，也改变了CBA——别不同意，毕竟他是北京队的“政委”。
    He single handedly changed young people, the Beijing Ducks, and the CBA. If anyone doesn’t agree, he is the Beijing Duck’s commissar* when all is said and done. 

*The Whole Beijing Ducks team will not eat Peking duck the whole season until they win the championship.
**A commissar is an older word than means an official of the Communist Party in charge of political indoctrination. Historically, the commissar is seen in revolutionary movies and television shows and inspires and leads. Chinese people use this word to describe to Stephon Marbury.

Basketball Terms You Need to Know

For more information on Basketball in China, check out this article from the Atlantic on the history of basketball in China. 

Kristen Carusos is from Atlanta, Georgia in the United States. She graduated from Kennesaw State University with a major in International Affairs and a minor in French. She studied abroad in China for the first time in Shanghai in 2010 and again in 2011 at Beijing Language and Culture University. She graduated and moved to Beijing in 2012 and has been studying Chinese since then. She works in the Marketing Department at the Sinology Institute.

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March 30,2015