The Dallas Mavericks have decided that their most reliable connector is worth paying like a rotation starter. On August 2, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Dallas signed forward Naji Marshall to a fully guaranteed three-year, $52.2M extension that begins in the 2027/28 season. Marshall will first play out the 2026/27 campaign at a scheduled $9.4M before the new money kicks in.
The extension carries an average annual value of roughly $17.4M, and it nearly doubles the three-year, $27M contract Marshall signed with Dallas as a free agent in the 2024 offseason. That earlier deal paid him about $9M per year. Two seasons of steady production turned a modest free-agent flier into a player the Mavericks were willing to commit more than $52M to keep off the open market.
Marshall's path makes the raise more striking. He entered the NBA undrafted in 2020 and spent four seasons in New Orleans before signing with Dallas. He is now 28, and rather than shop a productive wing on a below-market contract, the Mavericks had, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, "consistently resisted trade interest" in him.
The on-court case is straightforward. Last season Marshall averaged 15.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.1 steals across 74 games, including 47 starts, while logging 29.5 minutes per night. Those are not star numbers, but the assist and steal figures point to why Dallas values him. He is a secondary playmaker and a multi-positional defender who fills gaps rather than demanding touches.
That profile matters given the shape of Dallas's roster. The Mavericks are building around a young core fronted by Cooper Flagg alongside veterans Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and P.J. Washington, with Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II anchoring the frontcourt. A group stacked with ball-dominant scorers and traditional bigs needs connective wings who can guard multiple positions, move the ball and knock down open looks. Marshall, who also switched his jersey number to 3 this offseason, is exactly that kind of glue piece.
The fit next to Flagg is the heart of the calculus. As Dallas hands more of its offense to a young forward who needs shooting and playmaking around him, a wing who can start (Marshall did so 47 times last season), defend up and down the lineup and create without dominating the ball is close to an ideal complement. Paying that role roughly $17.4M a year, rather than a max slot, is how contenders keep their supporting casts intact.
The timing is deliberate. By extending now rather than waiting, Dallas converts a player who was two seasons from unrestricted free agency into a known, controllable cost through the end of the decade. The bet is that Marshall's age-28 through age-31 seasons will resemble the age-27 season that earned him this raise.
The structure is as important as the figure. Because this is an extension rather than a new free-agent contract, Dallas keeps Marshall off the 2027 market entirely and sidesteps a bidding war for a three-and-D wing, an archetype that routinely commands the full mid-level exception or more. Full guarantees across all three new years give Marshall security, while the roughly $17.4M annual salary sits below max money and keeps the contract tradable if the roster math shifts.
Mavericks president Masai Ujiri framed the deal around fit and habits. "Naji has earned this opportunity through the way he approaches the game every day," Ujiri said. "He is a competitive player who impacts winning in a variety of ways." For a front office that has spent the past 18 months reshaping its roster, locking in a versatile, still-improving 28-year-old at a mid-tier price is a low-risk commitment, and one that signals Dallas expects its current window to stay open well past 2027.