Former NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury is continuing his professional basketball career -- in a different fashion -- by becoming the head coach of the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association, where he retired from playing last year.
Monday's announcement came after weeks of speculation among Chinese basketball insiders that the 42-year-old New Yorker was set to take a head coach position with Beijing.
"Thank you for the opportunity. I will give everything I have on the sidelines just like I gave everything inside the Lines," Marbury wrote on his Weibo social media account. "The end is another start, I am back, are you with me?"
The team first announced the hiring in a statement hours earlier. Marbury signed a three-year deal with Beijing, according to Chinese media reports.
After 13 seasons in the NBA, Marbury moved to China in early 2010 and joined the CBA, winning three championships there, and has since become one of the best foreign imports the league has seen.
Since retirement from playing, Marbury has been devoted to his business ventures and to youth basketball training in China.