Well, the Stephon Marbury saga is over, at least in New York.

Marbury is now eligible to play in the playoffs for another team because his release from New York comes before the league’s Sunday deadline.

With Marbury expected to sign for a pro-rated share of the league’s veteran minimum, Boston’s financial risk is minimal if the experiment doesn’t work and the Celtics decided to subsequently cut Marbury.

It’s believed that Marbury will be forfeiting in excess of $2 million from his $20.8 million salary this season, which would net the Knicks twice that much because of the luxury-tax savings involved.

The conventional wisdom here is that he’ll soon sign with the Celtics, who have been trying to shore up their bench all season after losing James Posey to free agency and P.J. Brown to retirement last summer.

I’m happy that Marbury and the Knicks have been able to part ways. If he does sign with Boston, it will be interesting to see how he fits in with the defending champs.

Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni will miss practice to testify about his interaction with Stephon Marbury earlier this season when the guard allegedly refused to play in a game against the Pistons.

They’ll be back in each others’ faces Tuesday, and the hearing will force coach Mike D’Antoni to miss practice while he testifies before grievance arbitrator Calvin Sharpe, a Case Western Reserve University law professor, to recount exactly what was said on that November day at a suburban Detroit hotel when D’Antoni purportedly told Marbury he wanted him in the lineup that night and was prepared to give him regular playing time going forward.

Marbury has said his response was something along the lines of “I thought y’all were going in a different direction,” and he has maintained that he was careful not to say anything that could be construed as a refusal because that would technically put him in violation — if not breach — of his contract.

Marbury asked for an expedited grievance hearing, and the hearing will convene at 10 a.m. with Marbury, Walsh, D’Antoni and a handful of lawyers in attendance.

“I’ll have to [say] what happened, the way I saw things,” said D’Antoni, who also appeared less than thrilled at the prospect of spending several hours in a law office conference room sitting across the table from the one person who has managed to keep himself a sideshow and a distraction throughout this season.

The Knicks hold all the cards here, and unlike most NBA franchises, they are used to the media circus. I’d say two teams could handle having Marbury sidelined the entire season — the Knicks and the Lakers. With Marbury only offering $1 million in unpaid salary to secure his release, there isn’t much incentive for the Knicks to let him go. The Knicks are just 2 1/2 games out of the 8th spot in the East, and could very well face the Celtics in the first round in the playoffs. They’d gladly pay $1 million so that he can’t come back to bite them in the playoffs.

I don’t understand why Marbury didn’t take the Knicks $3 million offer. He needs to get his career back on track and he’s not going to be able to do that as long as he’s with the Knicks.

The Stephon Marbury Buyout Watch continues.

The banished Marbury told The Post yesterday his $1 million giveback is back on the table. Marbury said he’s waiting to hear back from Knicks president Donnie Walsh on his proposal.

Marbury, who is training in Los Angeles, says he has a firm offer from at least one club, allowing him to change his negotiating stance for the first time in seven weeks. The Celtics are the leading candidates to sign Marbury, according to a source.

Marbury had taken the $1 million giveback off the table during their stormy Dec. 1 meeting. Marbury put it back in play because at least one team has now made a commitment to him, allowing him to make the $1 million back.

Walsh last offered Marbury to take $3 million less. Marbury has been told by Knicks officials the matter is in owner James Dolan’s hands and he’s been awaiting word for several days.

Marbury also fears Dolan won’t accept his offer until after March 2, when he’d be no longer eligible for a playoff roster.

Let me get this straight — all this drama for a measly $2 million? I realize that this is a ton of money to normal people, but this is pocket change for James Dolan. Is $2 million worth the distraction of keeping Marbury on the roster? My guess is that the Knicks main problem with buying out Marbury is that they might be helping the Celtics in the process. But it’s not like the Knicks are a serious playoff contender — why not get rid of the headache?

As for Marbury, I don’t know why he hasn’t taken Dolan’s offer of a $3 million pay cut. He’s jeopardizing his ability to prove he’s worth a three- or four-year contract after this season. No one is going to sign him to a long-term deal if he doesn’t play (and play well) for the remainder of this season. Surely that’s worth $2 million to Starbury, right?

Henry Abbott lists several teams that might be interested in Stephon Marbury if/when he and the Knicks part ways…

Is your team on the list?

I could see the Celtics, Heat and Warriors rolling the dice. I don’t know if the other teams Abbott listed are desperate enough (or in the case of the C’s, have a strong enough of a culture to absorb Marbury’s baggage).

I realize that most of us already knew this, but Stephon Marbury confirmed on Monday that he is an utter moron.

“When things got bad and then worse, guys like Quentin Richardson say, ‘I don’t consider him a teammate. He let his teammates out to dry.’ He didn’t care I was his teammate when I was banished. They left me out for dead. It’s like we’re in a foxhole and I’m facing the other way. If I got shot in the head, at least you want to get shot by the enemy. I got shot in the head by my own guys in my foxhole. And they didn’t even give me an honorable death.”

I am not going to criticize Marbury for lashing out as his teammates or the organization. The Knicks are as culpable in this situation as Starbury is. (After all, they were the one that signed him in the first place.) But it’s completely inappropriate for Marbury to invoke images of soldiers shooting each other in a foxhole when this country is fighting two wars.

This might be worse than Kellen Winslow’s ‘I am a soldier’ tirade. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Marbury hasn’t spent any time in the armed forces. Thus far, he has earned $130,275,320 in his career and stands to make another $21,937,500 this season. In fact, the Knicks are considering giving him most of that salary just to go away.

Conversely, the salary range for enlisted soldiers is $15,276 to $67,104.

Athletes, please stop comparing yourselves to soldiers. You aren’t soldiers. There aren’t any bullets whizzing by your heads and you aren’t putting your lives on the line. You get paid an enormous amount of money to play a game, and you should show our veterans the proper respect. That starts with not using homicidal military comparisons when your teammates say something that you don’t like.

I’m sorry, Stephon, but you, sir, are an idiot.

The Knicks have suspended Stephon Marbury for two games for refusing to play.

In addition, the Knicks have clarified that Marbury actually will lose two games’ pay — or almost $400,000. Besides the one-game suspension without pay for refusing to play at Detroit on Wednesday night, Marbury also has been fined another game check for refusing to play last Friday at Milwaukee.

Clearly, Marbury knows his run with the Knicks is over. He broke his relative silence in an exclusive interview with a New York Post reporter whose coverage has been favorable to the Coney Island native. In an article published today, Marbury said of D’Antoni, “I wouldn’t trust him to walk my dog across the street.”

This makes me sick, but not for the reasons you might think. I’m sick because Marbury’s pay for two games is $400,000.

I don’t really care about which side treated the other with more disrespect. The Knicks say that Starbury refused to play and he says that he never said that he wouldn’t. There is a rumor that Mike D’Antoni offered the starting shooting guard slot — for the rest of the season, no less — which would obviously be a plan to showcase him before the trade deadline. But the Knicks won’t really gain anything in a trade unless they can get a draft pick or a cheap prospect. They don’t want to take on additional salary because it will jeopardize their chances to land LeBron in two years.

The two sides need to negotiate a buyout deal and end the relationship. The main hurdle there is that Marbury is acting as his own agent, so there isn’t a level-headed lawyer giving him advice. So let me step in…

The best thing for both parties is a buyout, but Marbury needs to be willing to back off his “not a penny less” demands. He’s not going to get much of a contract next summer if he doesn’t play this year, and he’s not going to play this year unless he signs with another team. He should take a buyout of $10-$12 million, and sign a one-year deal with a team that could use him. If he plays well, he’d be in a position to sign a 2-3 year deal for decent money ($4-$5 million per season?). If he stands his ground and demands the full salary, the Knicks could punish him for his unwillingness to compromise by continuing to pay him for the season, but banishing him from the team, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did with Keyshawn Johnson a few years back. If they went that route, the decision would be made and it may (I repeat, “may”) cease to be a story. (After all, this is the NY media we’re talking about.)

What a mess.

Mike D’Antoni refuses to play Stephon Marbury, but says that he’s been “great.” Now it looks like the Knicks might buy out Marbury’s contract, which would allow him to play elsewhere this season.

Marbury, 30, has been adamant that he will not take a penny less than the $21.9 million he is owed this season. He is in the last year of his contract and has said he doesn’t expect this to be his final season. If he doesn’t play at all, it would be more difficult for Marbury, who does not have an agent, to negotiate a new contract.

Though Marbury is widely considered to be a cancer, he did average 8+ assists in seven of his 11 years in the league, so conceivably he could fit into D’Antoni’s up-tempo system if he were willing to buy into the pass-first philosophy. But the Knicks are 5-3 without him, so the chances of Marbury getting any playing time in a Knicks uni appear to be gone as there is just too much history between Marbury and the franchise to make the relationship work. From the Knicks perspective, it’s not worth trying to showcase him for a trade, because no one is going to want to take on his salary. (And quite frankly, the Knicks don’t want to take on equal salary in a trade. They’re trying to get under the cap by 2010 to make a run at LeBron.)

The best thing for both parties is a buyout, but Marbury needs to be willing to back off his “not a penny less” demands. He’s not going to get much of a contract next summer if he doesn’t play this year, and he’s not going to play this year unless he signs with another team. He should take a buyout of $10-$12 million, and sign a one-year deal with a team that could use him. If he plays well, he’d be in a position to sign a 2-3 year deal for decent money ($4-$5 million per season?). If he stands his ground and demands the full salary, the Knicks could punish him for his unwillingness to compromise by continuing to pay him for the season, but banishing him from the team, like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did with Keyshawn Johnson a few years back. If they went that route, the decision would be made and it may (I repeat, “may”) cease to be a story. (After all, this is the NY media we’re talking about.)