Hooped Up

Knicks point guard Stephon Marbury was conspicuously AWOL from this Tuesday morning’s team practice, putting his Knicks’ tenure in jeopardy and throwing the team’s season into chaos.

On the day the Daily News reported that the club had decided to reduce Marbury’s role and may be discussing severing ties with the Brooklyn-bred hoops star, head coach Isiah Thomas informed the media at this morning’s shootaround that second-year guard Mardy Collins will replace Marbury in the starting lineup Tuesday against the Suns.

Thomas also said that everyone on the team is on notice and hinted that center Eddy Curry may be benched against Phoenix.

According to a team source, Marbury became upset after learning he would not start in Phoenix, at which point he threatened not to suit up for the game.

“Any type of penalty or suspension will be in-house and we’ll try to keep it within the confines of our team. This is an in-house matter with our team and we’ll keep it and leave it at that,” Thomas told reporters today. “We hope to see (Marbury) tonight at the game. However, if he’s not, make no mistake about it, we want him as a member of our basketball team.”

New York Daily News