According to an e-mail to The Post from Stephon Marbury this morning, the Knicks’ AWOL point guard is on his way to Los Angeles to join the Knicks for tonight’s game against the Clippers.
The Knicks have fined Marbury almost $200,000 for bolting from the team Tuesday, though Marbury claimed he had permission to return to New York.
The Knicks would not confirm Marbury was headed to rejoin the team.
Marbury’s tumultuous Knicks career is in jeopardy after the Knicks point guard left Phoenix in a huff yesterday morning and flew home following a wild argument in the hotel with Isiah Thomas over his starting role.
A source said Marbury and Thomas got into a heated argument Monday night shortly after flying to Arizona. Thomas told Marbury he was considering taking his starting job away and lessening his minutes and they disagreed on Marbury’s level of play in the first five games.
In a series of text messages to The Post late yesterday afternoon after landing in New York, Marbury had claimed he wasn’t headed back anytime soon. Marbury missed last night’s 113-102 loss to the Suns.
Marbury told The Post in the messages that Thomas gave him permission to skip out.
“I have one thing to say, and that’s I got permission to leave,” Marbury claimed in the message. “I would never leave my team on my own. What I’m telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home. God bless. Peace be with you.”
Thomas, asked if he gave Marbury permission to leave, didn’t deny it, saying, “The conversations we had in-house, we’ll try to keep it there.”
Because Marbury’s contract pays him $42 million across the next two years, he is untradeable and the only parting could be through a buyout.
Marbury told The Post in the summer he was ready to play in Italy when his contract was up in two years, partly to internationally market his discount Starburys. It was a remark that irked owner James Dolan, who could view Marbury’s desertion as the final straw; he already wasn’t pleased with Marbury’s trial testimony and defense of Michael Vick.
Thomas said repeatedly he wanted Marbury back in the fold, but that may not be his feeling long-term.
“This is an in-house matter,” Thomas said yesterday. “He’s not here at shootaround. We hope he’s at the game. If not, make no mistake about it, we do want him as a member of this basketball team. He is welcome back, and we want him as a member of this team.”
This is the second straight November they men have gotten into a feud over his role and it underscored Marbury’s volatile relationships with superiors, dating to Larry Brown.
Thomas and Marbury are neighbors and their families socialize. The Knicks coach is hopeful they bury the hatchet soon.
“Seems he and I go through this every November and a couple of weeks goes by and we kind of kiss and make up and we get back to the business of trying to win basketball games,” Thomas said.
Asked if he wanted Marbury as starter, Thomas said, “If he does the things I want him to do, yes. We need leadership from that position at the point guard. We also need defense. Those are two things he’s definitely capable of doing. When he returns, that’s what I expect from him. I expect him to lead from that position. I expect him to defend from that position.
“We want him. We need him. Our door’s open.”