Basketball is still Marion’s true love, the sport he intuitively knows and the one in which he can imagine playing the most central role post-retirement. When the chance to join Walsh presented itself, Marion jumped. “I didn’t know anything about the NBL,” Marion said. “But it was a winning situation. Now that I’ve been, I would say that the way we have it set up over there, it’s the closest thing to NBA ball. That’s the thing I was in awe of.”