On the eve of today’s Westchester buyout summit with team president Donnie Walsh that is expected to put an end to his turbulent five-year Knicks career, suspended Stephon Marbury yesterday took parting shots at his teammates, particularly Quentin Richardson, for never supporting him during his season-long exile.
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Marbury’s inability to get himself to trust coach Mike D’Antoni or his mates any longer has the Coney Islander eager to reach a financial settlement with the Knicks today so he can sign a contract elsewhere.
The depleted Knicks are just as desperate, so they can free up a roster spot to sign a shooting guard or Patrick Ewing Jr.
According to a source, Players Association attorney Hal Biagas has contacted teams to gauge interest, with Miami high on Marbury’s list. Knicks brass may ask Marbury not to sign with Pat Riley as part of the settlement. Marbury said he’s off to Los Angeles for a week of training, to get back into game shape, after the sides agree on a settlement.
Marbury also yesterday ripped D’Antoni for “disrespecting” him, and criticized Walsh for not hearing his side of the story before levying $400,000 worth of fines relating to Marbury’s alleged refusal to play last Wednesday in Detroit.
In another exclusive interview with The Post, Marbury said, “I sat there for three weeks and didn’t say one word. I didn’t hear one of my teammates say, ‘Why isn’t Stephon Marbury playing? This is a good system for him, even to play with the second unit to bring more firepower.’
“When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, ‘I don’t consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.’ He didn’t care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It’s like we’re in a foxhole and I’m facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn’t even give me an honorable death.”
Marbury is anxious to move on, even if it draws the wrath of the majority of Knicks fans. D’Antoni offered him last Wednesday in Detroit a chance to be the starting shooting guard the rest of the season, but Marbury wasn’t willing to commit to his hometown team.
Then on Friday, Walsh fined and suspended Marbury. On Thanksgiving, Walsh interviewed D’Antoni and spoke to NBA and Garden attorneys. He never spoke to Marbury.
“He suspended me without hearing both sides,” Marbury said. “That wasn’t fair. He took it upon himself to fine me without even speaking to me.”
Walsh called Marbury on Friday morning with news of the suspension, Marbury said.
“He said he spoke to my coach and my coach has no reason to lie to me – he hasn’t lied to me yet,” Marbury said, quoting Walsh.
“I said, ‘He’s lied to you now.’ ”
Marbury furthered his dispute on the fine that’s based on their Detroit conversation.
“Mike gave the option to play,” Marbury said. “He couldn’t come to me man to man and say you have to play. It was an option.”
Marbury said he was skeptical of D’Antoni’s offer – following the Knicks’ recent trades – to be the starting shooting guard, and wondered if the offer was Walsh’s doing. The Knicks still are awaiting word on Cuttino Mobley’s status, with signs pointing to his heart condition being career-ending.
“Mike had no intentions of me playing basketball here,” Marbury said. “He gave me straight disrespect. It was beyond disrespect. He put in (Danilo) Gallinari, whose back is messed up and [who] didn’t participate at all in training camp ahead of me [in the opener]. . . . That’s saying I’m letting you have it right now. He was sticking it to me.”
D’Antoni said his decision to move on without Marbury was right at the time. Sources said Marbury’s teammates wanted him off the team during the summer, and told D’Antoni such.
“I’m not foolproof in any decision you make,” D’Antoni said Saturday. “I think I realized everything that could happen. Now, I probably didn’t realize the perfect storm of everybody being hurt and making a trade and the guy not being here.”
Marbury said he was ready to run through a wall for D’Antoni this season.
“He knew I was in my contract year and did everything they asked me to do,” Marbury said. “He’s not trying to help me. He was trying to hurt me.”