Stephon Marbury hasn't been around much this season, so his release by the Knicks on Tuesday meant little to his former teammates.

"He hasn't really been seen in a little while," forward David Lee said Wednesday. "Almost somewhat of a dead issue for us because we knew at some point it would probably happen."

Coach Mike D'Antoni claims that the saga didn't distract the team at all, despite the fact that it lingered for quite some time.

"It's not like, 'Oh, now we can really play basketball, we're not distracted,' " D'Antoni said. "We weren't distracted before."

Marbury hasn't played a regular season game in over a year, so there is some question as to whether he's ready to jump on with another team and contribute right away.

"We'll see. I don't know," Quentin Richardson said. "I don't know what he's been doing. I assume he's been working out or whatever. I mean, only thing I can say is time will tell. Good luck to him."