On Tuesday, the New York Knicks and their former star point guard finally ended their standoff and agreed to a buyout of Stephon Marbury's contract. Since training camp, the Knicks have payed Marbury, who also answers to the nickname "Starbury", approximately $20MM this season. In return for this phat paycheck, Starbury has played a total of zero minutes this season.
This happened to the Knicks once before. Back when the team managed to make it to the NBA Finals despite barely sneaking into the playoffs, they locked shooting guard Allan Houston up with a mega deal that payed him more than $20MM annually. He subsequently developed an arthritic condition in his knee and basically sat out the last three years of his contract. Thanks to the guaranteed contracts negotiated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Houston received every penny.