Stephon Marbury Believes Carmelo Anthony Still A Top 20 NBA Player, Better Than Porzingis

Stephon Marbury believes Carmelo Anthony is still a top 20 player in the NBA.

Stephon Marbury believes Carmelo Anthony remains one of the top 20 players in the NBA, he told SI Now in an interview on Thursday afternoon.

Marbury joined the show to discuss his hopes of making an NBA comeback at 40 years old but he also chimed in on the current state of the New York Knicks among other NBA topics.

Here's how his exchange went with SI Now's Robin Lundberg:

Lundberg: "Melo or Porzingis: Best player on the Knicks right now?"

Marbury: "C'mon man. You serious?...Carmelo Anthony is one of the best players in the NBA."

Lundberg: "Here at SI, he was ranked in the 30s. I saw ESPN had him in the 60s. There's an argument out there that Carmelo Anthony is below Kristaps Porzingis. Where would you rank Carmelo Anthony in the NBA right now?"

[Anthony was ranked at No. 37 in the SI Top 100 NBA Players]

Marbury: "I mean he's one of the top 20 players in the NBA by far. It's not even close."

Marbury also noted that relationship has been rekindled with the Knicks and he's spoken to members within the organization to move past their difficult times.​ He would be open to joining the Knicks, if the team was interested in him. 

Marbury's current plan is to play one more season in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Beijing Fly Dragons before looking to sign with an NBA team in February or March. He said that he has communicated with one NBA team and clarified that he was the one that reached out to the team.

He has not played in the NBA since the 2008-09 season with the Boston Celtics.