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Former All-Star Marbury had suicidal thoughts
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Former NBA guard Stephon Marbury admitted that he struggled with depression and suicidal thought as his career in the league was coming to an end in 2009.
“I wanted to die,” Marbury told HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” in an interview that will be shown Tuesday night. “I wanted to kill myself some days. I did.
“It wasn’t about basketball. It started to become about me. Because I was that depressed and I was that sick.”
Marbury told Gumbel that his failing “Starbury” shoe company, the death of his father in 2007 and his stalled basketball career led to his downward spiral.
“When everything went on with the Knicks, and, you know, my father passed on, the (Starbury) brand was — it was basically losing life slowly,” Marbury told “Real Sports.” “And I was watching it. And I think that was hurting me more than seeing my basketball career going in the direction that it was going.
“I was trapped in my thoughts. I was trapped in how I felt about how I felt I was treated. I was trapped with decisions that I made.”
The 37-year-old former All-Star last played in the NBA in 2009 with the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. In addition to five years with the Knicks, Marbury also spent portions of his 13-year career with the Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and the New Jersey Nets.
Marbury has played in the Chinese Basketball Association since 2010.
