Fans donate statue for Marbury

A life-size bronze statue of Stephon Marbury donated by over a million Chinese fans were set up at the Mastercard Arena (Wukesong Stadium) on Sunday.

The statue will be a permanent part of the Mastercard Arena to memorize the historical moment that Marbury led the Beijing Ducks to the first national championship in 30 years on March 30 when they beat Guangdong in the finals of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).

China biggest sports website hupu.com initiated a poll on the day in an effort to build a statue for Marbury, and promised to donate the statue if it received a million votes from fans.

The website received more than 1.02 million votes in seven days.

"I could have never imagined that more than one million of my fans would unite just to have a life-size bronze statue built of me. (I'm) the first foreign born person ever to receive this most high honor. Never, in my lifetime did I think something like this would happen. And to be here to see it. This is just amazing," Marbury said during the donation ceremony.

The New-York-born guard is becoming a symbol of the capital of Beijing after his team won the title. His new book was published, his basketball clinic was opened and his statue was set up. He won love from his fans besides tons of glory.

Marbury said, "I never thought that I would ever get the chance to fulfill a dream bigger than the dream that I had dreamed of for my life. And, I certainly did not think that I would be part of China's history, not once, not twice, but three times in less than six months."

The three historical moments he mentioned was a 13-game winning streak of last season, winning the title and the statue.

His teammates, general manager, his sister Marcia witnessed Marbury unveiling the statue. And there were also a bunch of NBA legends who were having a tour in China showed up Sunday afternoon.

Dennis Rodman, former Chicago Bulls forward, said, "Here we see a former New York Knicks player who transmutes his life in China. His achievement here was never be fulfilled by any NBA players, not Michael Jordan, not Kobe (Byrant) or (LeBrone) James."