Marbury leaves Knicks in an apparent dispute

Point guard Stephon Marbury has left the New York Knicks and there is no word on when, or even if, he might rejoin the team.

Marbury was absent from the team’s morning shoot-around, and failed to show up when the Knicks played the Suns at Phoenix on Tuesday night.

Coach Isiah Thomas would only confirm Marbury had left and that he would be welcome back.

“That is an in-house matter, and we’ll continue to keep it in-house,” Thomas said after the shoot-around. “However, he is welcome back, and we want him as a member of this team.”

WNBC New York and The New York Post reported Marbury contacted them electronically to say he had Thomas’ permission to leave the team.

“I would never leave my team on my own,” Marbury told The Post. “What I’m telling you is that I got permission to leave from Isiah. He said I could go home.”

Thomas would not confirm that.

The Post reported on its website that Marbury, 30, had flown back to New York and did not plan to join the team tonight against the Clippers.

Marbury’s absence followed a story in Tuesday’s New York Daily News indicating the Knicks were trying to reduce his role or get rid of him. A trade seems unlikely, because Marbury -- who also had a contentious relationship with Thomas’ predecessor Larry Brown -- is scheduled to earn $42 million over this season and the next one.

Despite praising his “great workout,” Miami Heat Coach Pat Riley still had no timetable for guard Dwyane Wade’s return from off-season knee and shoulder surgeries, saying only, “I think he’s getting close.”

Prosecutors declined to file charges against Sacramento Kings center Justin Williams over allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman Oct. 11, citing a lack of enough evidence.

Milwaukee Bucks forward Michael Ruffin will miss four to six weeks because of a broken left wrist suffered Sunday against San Antonio.