Stephon Marbury’s Chinese biopic starring Stephon Marbury has a crazy trailer

Nearly one year after news of a Chinese biopic about former NBA star Stephon Marbury was reported, a trailer for the film is now available. The movie is titled My Other Home and follows Marbury’s experiences playing professional basketball in China, which he’s been doing for the past eight years. Making this biopic more notable is that Marbury, 40, is playing himself.

But if there was any thought that My Other Home would essentially be a made-for-TV movie, the trailer for the movie might convince you otherwise. This looks surprisingly intense, chronicling the journey that took Marbury to China after 13 seasons in the NBA. Based on what’s shown in the trailer, those NBA days might not be portrayed in the film, but there does appear to be some flashback to a young Marbury and a coach who was highly influential for him (played by Frankie Faison, last seen in Luke Cage).

Otherwise, Marbury’s playing career in China — and the role which basketball plays in the culture — seem to be prominently featured in the trailer, with Baron Davis presumably portraying another former NBA star who’s a rival for Marbury in the Chinese Basketball Association. (Allen Iverson reportedly has a role in the film as well, though he’s not seen in this preview.) This sure doesn’t seem like any biopic we’d see here in the U.S. Give it a look:

For a trailer that lasts less than a minute, quite a bit is packed in there. Marbury certainly seems to be going through an emotional experience, which leaving the U.S. and the NBA to revitalize and extend his career in a foreign country surely must have been. (The question will be whether or not Marbury can pull those emotional scenes off. Based on the footage in the trailer, he appears to be able to tap into something to make himself cry on screen.)

But the basketball scenes look pretty good too, with some impressive camera work moving up and down the court. Marbury’s style of play must have seemed radical and revolutionary at the time, and maybe that created some conflict among teammates, opposing players and coaches. Would he have been able to make that flashy behind-the-back pass seen in the trailer in the NBA at the time? Or would it have been a good idea? But Marbury made it work in China and became a star, which could arguably be the entire point of this movie. The movie’s existence itself makes that point, doesn’t it?

Marbury has played for three teams in the CBA, winning three league championships with the Beijing Ducks. He has also played for the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons and Foshan Dralions during his career in China. Earlier this year, Marbury announced that he’ll retire after the 2017-18 CBA season, but he is currently looking for another team to play for after he and the Ducks parted ways in April.

My Other Home is scheduled for a July premiere in China. No word on whether or not the movie will ever see a U.S. release. It’s a Chinese-language film made for Chinese audiences, who regard Marbury as a big star and personality. Having to read subtitles might turn off some viewers. But fans of Marbury and pro basketball, in addition to general curiosity from sports fans, might create an audience for the movie. Hopefully, it becomes available in some form, perhaps through a streaming outlet. Maybe ESPN can eventually pick it up for some summer programming.