DALLAS — On Thursday, ESPN graded signings and extensions from this summer’s NBA free agency, touching on the 3-year, $52.2 million deal between the Dallas Mavericks and Naji Marshall.
Zach Kram, writing for ESPN, graded the move a B-.
Although he considered the contract good value for a player who has improved in each of his two years since joining Dallas, Kram felt the Mavericks’ roster construction around him was less than ideal.
Naji Marshall’s Road To His Extension
Marshall spent his first four seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, where he averaged 7.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2 assists in 230 games with the franchise. In a limited role, Marshall showcased flashes of all-around skill, displaying secondary creation ability and creative finishing around the basket.
Dallas added Marshall as a free agent in the 2024 offseason, joining a team built around Luka Dončić. Much has changed since then, with reigning Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg becoming the Mavericks’ new franchise cornerstone.
Since coming to Dallas, Marshall has had back-to-back career-best seasons. In 2025-26, he averaged 15.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals in 29.5 minutes per game. Marshall appeared in 74 games for the Mavericks last year, starting in 47.
Over the past two years, he’s expanded on the flashes he showed in New Orleans, becoming a high-level role player. Marshall is a competitor defensively, can attack closeouts, make reads, get to the paint and finish over, or through, the defense.
The one aspect of Marshall’s game that hasn’t improved is his outside shooting, the reason why ESPN held off on grading his extension with Dallas higher.
In his final year with the Pelicans, Marshall shot 38.7% from three-point range on 2.3 attempts per game. The Mavericks hoped that his shooting would translate once he arrived in North Texas, but his percentages have only fallen.
Each of the past two seasons in Dallas has been a down year for Marshall from beyond the arc, shooting 27.5% in 2024-25 and 29.1% last season. The only year he shot worse was 2021-22, when Marshall completed just 20% of his attempts.
The State Of The Dallas Mavericks’ Outside Shooting
Shooting is very important in the NBA, as it has been since the three-point revolution brought along by Stephen Curry in the 2010s. Since Marshall isn’t a deadeye threat, the Mavericks would benefit from having more shooting around him.
At the moment, though, they do not.
The core of Dallas’ team includes Flagg, who shot just 29.5% from three last season and recent first-round draft pick Morez Johnson Jr., who shot 34.3% on a low volume in his last season at Michigan. With those two, the future of the Mavericks’ shooting remains murky.
Dallas’ top three-point shooter last year, Klay Thompson, was recently bought out by the team before joining the Miami Heat.
Kyrie Irving’s return from injury should help boost the Mavericks’ outside shooting, as he’s a career 39.4% shooter from downtown. But outside of Max Christie, the only other of last year’s team’s high efficiency deep threats, Dallas will lean on a collection of new players for three-point shooting.
If new additions like Zaccharie Risacher, Santi Aldama and Tarik Biberović can’t help the Mavericks on the perimeter, Marshall’s skills will be diminished. That said, his recent production certainly warrants his brand-new contract, especially if he can find his stroke from deep range again.
