In a bizarre flip-flop, Stephon Marbury said his bombshell announcement about his relationship with Larry Brown is he “made me a better man.”

Trying to smooth over 82 games of conflict, Marbury said he reached a genuine accord and understanding with Brown and in their exit meeting talked about “trusting” each other next season. He sounded like a born-again Brownie.

“We didn’t even talk about basketball,” Marbury said. “We talked about us in terms of trust, me being on the same page as him. We 100-percent were not on the same page this year.”

Marbury said he had an epiphany. “This was the best time of my life, because I had a revelation this year,” Marbury said. “I didn’t know how to deal with adversity and Coach taught me how to deal with adversity this year.”

Marbury, however, was vague on how because this season’s vicious coach/player open feud helped ruin the season. Just last Thursday, Marbury vowed to play like “Starbury” and didn’t care what Brown wanted.

“This (revelation) was a process of the whole year,” Marbury said. “I had so much stuff inside me. I don’t want no beefs with nobody. I just want to play basketball. By far this will make me a better basketball player.

“When I was saying I want to go out and play like Starbury, I wasn’t saying I was going to be insubordinate and not listen to the coach. I would never do that. What I was saying was that I’m going to incorporate his style and my style, and be like a family. That’s why I wanted this podium. So everyone can hear it.”

No matter the bonding at the meeting, Brown and Thomas acknowledged he could well be traded. Brown said he just asked Marbury to “let me coach you.”

“The coach told me he didn’t want to trade me, he said that if I was going to be traded for Kobe or Kevin (Garnett). I told him you gotta do that, if you can get a guy like Kobe,” Marbury said.

“But he said he didn’t want to trade me and get back junk, so we’re on the same page.”

Until the first losing streak next season, perhaps.