We figured it would happen soon.

I trust Hahn on this one. As you’ve probably read by now, he’s reporting that the Knicks will probably cut ties with Marbury as early as the end of the week.

Hoopsworld questions the move, based on the notion that he could still play at a high level and the Knicks are essentially giving him away, but there’s an easy answer for that.

“It’s inevitable that the Knicks part ways with Stephon, but where is the benefit to the Knicks? Steph is in the final year of his deal earning $21.9 million. There is a modern belief that you’re guaranteed to pay Steph $21.9 million, the question becomes how much can you get him to knock off in order to be free of the Knicks? Would knocking $2 million off the deal be enough to get James Dolan to write off another deal? Is telling Cablevision shareholders that you saved $2 million enough?”

Take a look at all the huge contracts over the years and you’ll see there’s a sniff of interest from other teams on the trade market. Marbury has received zero, zilch, nada. What does that tell you?

It tells me that he’s not worth trading for. Is he worth giving a shot to without giving anything up? Sure.

In order for Steph to be traded, a match would have to be made salary-wise, and the Knicks don’t have the roster space to take back the three or four players it would take to match.

Wait until the deadline to increase that value, you say? Why? It would be the same situation, and who knows what would happen to the locker room before then.

Don’t take minutes from Nate, or Duhon, or Jamal, not when D’Antoni expects Crawford to elevate to an all-star level. Here’s your chance Jamal, time to become the complete player we’ve been waiting for.

In the end it was a sad run for the Coney Island Kid and I rooted for him. It should have been a NYC kid’s dream come true. However, thanks to his dust up with coaches, namely Larry Brown, followed by his indifference to the Anucha trial, which spelled doom for the franchise, it became a nightmare.

It’s just time to start fresh and time to move on.