Missed day costs Marbury $180,000

Suddenly, whatever issues the Clippers may have faced at the point guard seem less burdensome.

Another day in the New York Knicks’ soap-opera season turned, their Stephon Marbury returned and everything Knicks-related faced a media horde at Staples Center on Wednesday.

About 30 media members jostled for position outside the Knicks’ locker room before the game, waiting for Coach Isiah Thomas and the gone-one-second, here-the-next Marbury.

Thomas arrived first and Marbury, in a suit and purple shirt, trailed closely.

Marbury offered a brief smile to reporters, apologizing to one for not getting back to him, before dashing inside the locker room.

At issue is his future with the club.

After a frenzied off-season where Marbury gave a bizarre television interview and testified in a sexual-harassment suit against Thomas, his distracting behavior has drifted into the season.

Marbury left the team Tuesday morning before the Knicks played the Phoenix Suns. The New York Daily News reported that tensions between Marbury and Thomas flared on the team plane when the player was informed he would not start against the Suns.

Marbury, an 11-year veteran, was fined a reported $180,000 by the Knicks. He is scheduled to earn $42 million over the next two seasons.

“I’m here to play basketball and I’m just going to concentrate on that,” Marbury told reporters after warming up on the court, lending 34 seconds of his time. “I will respect if everyone can just respect that. That’s it. That’s all I really have to say.”

He added that he intended to apologize to his teammates.

“I plan to tell them that this is something that has to do with Isiah and myself,” he said.

Marbury played 33 minutes and scored 13 points, while coming off the bench for only the seventh time in his career. Marbury and Thomas sat next to each another on the bench at tipoff, talking with each another.

Meeting with reporters before the game, Thomas said his talks with Marbury would stay within the confines of the team.

“We had a conversation and any conversation that we have within our team, we try to keep those as private and in-house matters,” Thomas said.

Leadership and defense are the two qualities Thomas said he was looking for from his point guard.

“This is part of being a coach in this league and this is part of being a player in this league,” he said. “The door is never closed. This isn’t the Cold War. This is something that needs to be done for our team to move forward. Every now and then you run into a very troublesome situation, but you work your way through it and you move on.”

Thomas compared the situation to the discipline he received in his own childhood.

“I love all my players,” he said. “Just like my mother loved me, but sometimes she snatched me out of the park and had some tough words for me and did some tough things to me. But it didn’t negate the fact that she loved me and she wanted the best for me. And I want the best for this team.”

Chris Kaman was nominated for the Western Conference player of the week after averaging 19.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in four games. The award went to the Rockets’ Yao Ming.

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com