Member-only story
What It Felt Like to Guard Stephon Marbury
For one free-agent rookie, it was like trying to cage The Hulk when he’s turned green
I’m having a panic attack, floating in a black void of space and star-popping cosmos, clapping at Stephon Marbury so he’ll look at me.
Defending Starbury is the stuff of my nightmares—both in real life and in my consciousness. In the actual dreams, I’m watching my younger self sprint down a court chasing Marbury — except he’s staring down at me from the cosmos. That’s weird. Can he see me up there? Cheers, taunts, and voices whisper as a basketball court opens underneath me like an extraterrestrial Slinky pouring into the fifth dimension.
I’m in the basketball Upside Down, like Stranger Things. There’s tension here. I can see the crowd, but they can’t see me. They’re snickering and puffing and piffffffing. Everyone can see young Trevor Huffman trying his hardest. I have to warn him, I think. I have to warn myself. I start ripping my arms through the weightless black void to get closer.
“Trevor, can you hear me? Don’t let him go left. Back up, man. Let him hit the jumper.”
But young Trevor is not listening. He is thick and muscled, and his eyes are steely brown and full of determination. Young Trevor squats 500 pounds and wants to show the coaches his mettle. He wants to beat Starbury. To be in the pack, you have to hunt with the alpha. You have to prove your worth.
“Trevor,” I yell at my younger self. “Seriously. Listen to me. That’s not how you get in the pack! You get in the pack by knowing your role. Your strengths. Your weaknesses. Your intestines are going to explode if you don’t step back. Why can’t you hear me?”
Frank Johnson is glowering on the sideline. His right pinky slants off to the side at his second knuckle and he’s clenching a dry-erase board. He’s mad at something — maybe at the practice squad or at the White guy trying to guard his star player. Next to him, Mike D’Antoni grins.
The Phoenix Suns line up on both sidelines. One side is the first team, and on the other is the second team. On the first, there’s Stephon Marbury, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, and Penny Hardaway. They’re all in black jerseys…
