Ma Bu Li, the Chinese basketball star

His New York fans may have deserted him, but Stephon Marbury is already winning new friends in this grimy coal city in northern China. "Ma Bu Li," as he is now known, on Wednesday began an unlikely career with the Taiyuan Shanxi Zhongyu Professional Basketball Club, one of the worst teams in the league. He is the biggest National Basketball Association star ever to have played professional basketball in China. Back home, Mr. Marbury's run-ins with coaches and teammates at the New York Knicks and other teams battered his reputation. After terminating his contract in New York early last year, Mr. Marbury played briefly for the Boston Celtics, and according to Zhongyu, he accepted an offer to move to China after he didn't get a satisfactory offer in the NBA...

On Wednesday, Mr. Marbury turned out for the first time with his new team at a game. Although he didn't play, at half time he appeared on court dressed in a designer down-jacket to present gift bags to a group of children. Chinese reporters ran onto the court and mobbed him. The crowd cheered...

Taiyuan is the capital of China's northern Shanxi province and the center of China's coal-mining industry. The whole city is covered in a thin layer of coal dust, including Zhongyu's Binhe Sports Stadium, which seats about 4,500 people. It has less than a fourth the capacity of New York's Madison Square Garden where Mr. Marbury played from 2004 to 2008. Courtside seats in the arena, which run about $1,464 a season, are a collection of worn red sofas and lounge chairs...

Mr. Marbury, though, isn't playing in China for the money. He's here to promote his shoe and apparel brand, called "Starbury" after his nickname, featuring low-cost sneakers for $15. The market is potentially huge: The NBA estimates that 300 million people play basketball in China. Mr. Marbury has the Starbury logo tattooed on the side of his shaved head. His new employer, Zhongyu-owner Wang Xingjiang, is an iron and steel magnate and basketball fanatic who made the Forbes "400 Richest Chinese" list in 2008. At the time, his net worth was estimated to be $260 million.