Former NBA star Stephon Marbury, the highest-profile player to join the Chinese Basketball Association, has denied he hit a fan when tempers flared at the end of a tense game in China.
The alleged victim was aired on Chinese television showing what he claimed were bruises inflicted by the former NBA star at the end of a game that saw Marbury’s Beijing Ducks lose to his former club Shanxi Brave Dragons on Monday.
“That never happened. I have no reason to punch somebody, especially a fan. I would never punch a fan in the face. That does not make any sense and I think that he is a liar,” Marbury said on television.
Marbury had been in top form on Monday, scoring 25 points in the hotly-contested semi-final.
But the last minutes of the game were interrupted when Shanxi supporters threw debris and water bottles onto the court, forcing the Beijing players to huddle together mid-court, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The flare-up follows another high-profile altercation in the summer of 2011, when players from a domestic team called Beijing Bayi attacked opponents from the visiting Georgetown University during an exhibition game.
Fans also threw water bottles at the Washington DC-based basketball team as they left the court.
Marbury, who had a reputation for petulant behaviour when he played with the New York Knicks, told AFP last year he was adjusting well to China.
The player writes a column for state-run newspaper China Daily and often speaks of his love for China and the domestic game. He is learning the language and has a tattoo of his Chinese name “Mabuli” across his forearm.