NBA

DEAD TO KNICKS, MARBURY LIKELY HEADED TO CELTS

Stephon Marbury left a prestigious Manhattan law office in a black overcoat at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, skipping across the cold Times Square streets in glee, raising his arms in triumph, bellowing, “I’m happy.”

KNICKS BLOG

Marbury has been set free by the Knicks and now he will wear green. Marbury will sign with the Celtics once he clears waivers in two days to try to win a championship, according to sources. The Knicks said goodbye to Marbury, but could say hello to him again in the first round of the playoffs.

The Knicks announced last night they had reached a buyout agreement with Marbury during yesterday’s arbitration hearing at Skadden, Arps over the banished point guard’s $400,000 fine for allegedly refusing to play. But the hearing was just a ruse to get Donnie Walsh and Marbury into the same room together to work out a divorce.

“A comprehensive agreement was made this afternoon between the New York Knicks and Stephon Marbury,” the Knicks announced. “Under its terms, the grievance has been resolved and the Knicks have requested waivers on Stephon.”

Marbury jubilantly posed for a Post photographer for several minutes before heading off in a silver SUV, his dead career alive again. Marbury had feared the Knicks would not waive him until March 2 when he would’ve been ineligible for a playoff roster.

Marbury did not comment to a handful of reporters. Reached last night by The Post, Marbury said he’s not permitted to comment until today.

Marbury told The Post last month he had a verbal commitment from Boston, which wants him as a 15-to-20-minute-a-night combo guard off the bench. With Tony Allen out another six weeks after thumb surgery, Eddie House and Gabe Pruitt are the only two Celtics reserve guards. Marbury would likely take Pruitt’s minutes. Coincidentally, the Celtics are in L.A., where Marbury has spent most of his exile training.

“If the world champions have interest, how can I not?” Marbury told The Post in early January. “I would be honored to put on the white and green. The team that I am on has said they don’t want me. I want to move on with my career. And they should want to move on.”

Marbury hasn’t played a regular-season game since Jan. 11, 2008 – a nearly 14-month layoff. Part of yesterday’s settlement was dropping his grievance on the $400,000 fine. Marbury offered to give back $1 million of the remainder of his $21 million contract, but it is believed he upped it to $1.5M. The Knicks originally asked for a $3 million savings.

Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni had skipped yesterday’s practice to testify at the hearing before an independent arbitrator, but it soon devolved into buyout talks.

By 2:30 p.m., an accord was reached and Marbury fled the offices as Walsh and Players’ Association attorneys Hal Biagas, Ron Klempner and Gary Hall hammered out the paperwork. In a touching scene, Marbury waited outside in the cold for several minutes to walk Hall, who uses a cane, across the street.

“The whole hearing was irrelevant,” one source said. “It made everyone focus and put everyone in one place instead of a whole hearing where everyone beat each other up.”

The Post reported exclusively Monday that Marbury and Walsh would attempt to avoid a hearing over Marbury’s fine to work out a buyout settlement.

On Monday, Walsh said he’d prefer Marbury does not sign with a playoff-bound team.

“Those are things you have to put in your head when you’re thinking about it,” Walsh said Monday. “It’s a competitiveness issue.”

Marbury has been banished from the team since Dec. 1, after refusing D’Antoni’s offer to be the starting shooting guard on Thanksgiving Eve.

Marbury is the last Knick from their last playoff team of 2003-04, but his Knicks stint was a major disappointment. Marbury will be remembered more for his feuds with Larry Brown, Isiah Thomas and D’Antoni than what he did on the court.

marc.berman@nypost.com

A troubled tenure

Jan. 5, 2004: Marbury, a Coney Island native, returns home after being traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Knicks, along with Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski for Charlie Ward, Antonio McDyess, Howard Eisley, Maciej Lampe, the draft rights to Milos Vujanic and two first-round draft picks.

Spring 2004: Marbury helps the Knicks make their first playoff appearance in three years, but they are swept by the Nets in the first round. They have not made the playoffs since.

January 2005: Marbury declares himself the “best point guard in the NBA.”

2005-06 season: The Knicks match the most losses in team history while Marbury feuds publicly with head coach Larry Brown through the media.

September 2007: Marbury is questioned during the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment trial. It is revealed that in April 2005, Marbury, a married father, asked a team intern if she was, “Going to get in the truck?” She did. Marbury admits to having sex with her.

Nov. 14, 2007: After learning he would be removed from the starting lineup on a flight to Phoenix, Marbury confronts Thomas on the plane, then goes AWOL, missing two games.

2007-08 season: Marbury plays in just 24 games, the lowest number of his career, after having season-ending ankle surgery in February 2008.

October 2008: Marbury plays in the preseason, but never plays in a regular-season game.

Nov. 26, 2008: With the team shorthanded due to trades and injuries, head coach Mike D’Antoni asks Marbury to play, but the guard refuses to suit up.

Dec. 1, 2008: After buyout talks hit an impasse, Knicks team president Donnie Walsh bans Marbury from attending Knicks practices or games.

Yesterday: Marbury agrees to a buyout of his $20.8 million contract, freeing him to sign with any team, presumably the Celtics.

– Howard Kussoy