Additional Contract Clause Revealed: Marbury May Coach the Beijing Ducks in 2018

Previously we reported that Beijing Duck's basketball star Stephon Marbury signed a two-year contract extension that will bind him to the reigning Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) champions through 2017. He revealed on his twitter Wednesday that the contract indeed consists of third-year team option to have him either play or coach in 2018.

This clause in his contract, which we didn't know existed before, indicates a high likelihood that Marbury will start his coaching career with the Beijing Ducks, and if so, the Duck's legendary point guard and arguably Beijing's most famous foreigner will remain in Beijing for a couple of years after he retires from professional basketball.

Although he clarified on his twitter that he wouldn't become head coach immediately, saying: "I would do the grunt work as his coach runs the show," he has previously revealed his intention to become the head coach someday, and even the coach of the Chinese national team.

With his new 2+1 contract, the 38-year-old will certainly play beyond his 40th birthday, which will fall during February of the 2017 season. If he does decide to play in the third year, Marbury will tie with previous Jilin Northeastern Tiger's Roderick Gregoire as the second longest-serving foreign player for a single CBA team, at seven years. The current longest-serving foreign player for a single CBA team is Jason Dixon. The 6"9' center from the US played 10 seasons for Guangdong Southern Tigers and brought the team five CBA championships. In 2009, Dixon had his #15 jersey retired at the Tigers Arena. He was the second CBA player to have his number retired, the first being Yao Ming.

Earlier this year Marbury also applied for the Chinese "green card" which is almost impossible to obtain for foreigners. He posted on his Weibo in Chinese, saying, "I'm at the Immigration Bureau for a Chinese green card," and took the time to have a couple of pictures taken with the his officer fans. The immigration bureau confirmed the news the same day on their own Weibo: "Our office just accepted Stephon Marbury's application for permanent residency, which will be proceeded accordingly soon." The post, however, was deleted by the immigration bureau's Weibo account a few days later for unknown reasons. 

Photos: Stephon Marbury's twitter and Weibo, ebeijing.gov.cn