Stephon Marbury's tumultuous Knicks career is in jeopardy of ending after the point guard bolted Phoenix in a huff Tuesday morning and flew home following a wild argument with Isiah Thomas - an argument that began on the team charter when Marbury learned he would not be starting and which spilled over to the team hotel.

In a series of text messages to The Post late Tuesday afternoon after landing in New York, Marbury claimed he wasn't headed back anytime soon. Marbury missed last night's 113-102 loss to the Suns and had no plans of flying to LA to rejoin the team tonight vs. the Clippers.

Marbury told The Post in the messages that Thomas gave him permission to skip out. ?I have one thing to say, and that's I got permission to leave," Marbury claimed in the message. ?I would never leave my team on my own. What I'm telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home. God bless. Peace be with you."

Marbury also watched Tuesday's game from his Westchester home. Asked if he gave Marbury permission to leave, Thomas didn't deny it, saying, ?The conversations we had in-house, we'll try to keep it there."

A source said Marbury and Thomas got into a heated argument in the Phoenix hotel Monday night shortly after flying into town. Thomas told Marbury he was considering taking his starting job away and lessening his minutes and they disagreed on Marbury's level of play in the first five games.

At the morning shootaround, Thomas was vague about Marbury's absence, even hinting Marbury was back at the hotel, saying he hoped he'd show up for that night's game. It was contrary to a report on the Post's website Tuesday morning he had already left Phoenix.