The Mavericks are signing free agent wing Naji Marshall to a three-year, $27MM contract, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (via Twitter).
A former undrafted free agent who played college ball at Xavier, Marshall has spent his entire four-year NBA career with New Orleans, initially starting out on a two-way contract. Known for his energy and tenacious defense, the 26-year-old had a career year from deep in 2023/24, converting 38.7% of his three-point looks, though it was on very low volume (2.3 attempts per game).
Notably, Marshall was one of the Pelicans’ top performers in their first-round loss to the Thunder, averaging 9.0 points and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 40% from long distance in 21.0 minutes per contest. He averaged 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 19.0 minutes across 66 regular season appearances last season, almost entirely off the bench (he made one start).
It’s a huge raise for Marshall, who finished last season on a minimum-salary contract. A report last month indicated New Orleans didn’t expect Marshall back next season due to financial reasons.
Marshall was considered a fallback option for Dallas if the team was unable to re-sign starting forward Derrick Jones, whose free agency was complicated by the fact that he recently switched agents. Veteran reporter Marc Stein confirms the Mavs are preparing to move on from Jones, citing league sources who say the team is still focused on landing Klay Thompson in a sign-and-trade with Golden State (Twitter links).
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon says (via Twitter) the Mavs are using a significant portion of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Marshall. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks has noted, there’s an expectation that Dallas will use its bi-annual exception to acquire Quentin Grimes from Detroit, creating a trade exception worth Tim Hardaway Jr.‘s full outgoing salary (nearly $16.2MM). If a deal comes to fruition, Thompson’s contract would fit into that new TPE.
The 2024 offseason is the first time that the MLE and BAE can be used to acquire players in trades or waiver claims, not just to sign free agents.
The first tax apron for the 2024/25 league year ($178,132,000) will be the hard cap for any team that acquires a player via sign-and-trade, signs a player using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, signs or acquires a player using a bi-annual exception, uses any portion of its mid-level exception to add a player via trade or waiver claim, acquires more than 100% of the outgoing salary in a trade, or uses a trade exception generated prior to the start of the 2024 offseason. The Mavs will meet several of those criteria, which means they cannot exceed the first apron salary threshold.
Marshall came in at No. 33 on our list of 2024’s top 50 free agents.
So they aren’t getting Klay then.
Think this effects Derrick jones more than klay
Klay to the Lakers. Question is will the Warriors want the discarded Laker parts or not do Klay any favors and he’ll have to settle for that $12 million slot?
Or…, with Dallas this could be perhaps a cheaper alternative to the other free agent Wing who wants more money? Sign Klay AND Marshall. Then lose Derrick Jones.
Klay could end up with Clippers to help replace Paul George
Can still get Klay if they move green and maxi, but would need to move someone if they want to sign DJJ to the non tax MLE.
Wrong. Klay would come in on a sign and trade using the 16m trade exception from hardaway
Naji Marshall getting 3 years $27 million is big time for him!!! He will replace Derrick Jones Jr. and the Dallas Mavericks won’t miss a beat! Naji Marshall plays with that dog in him!
Woooooowwwww, huge blow for the Pelicans but they got wings. Jordan Hawkins minutes incoming
Solid move for the Mavs. Wanted him for the Sixers if they went with the role player route.
Probably could have been a good fit right now, losing Tobias Harris, still needing help at the 4, and yoy have a wing player like Paul George already, etc…there are other options on the board though too
Rather djj and klay :'(
Gives them an offensive option at the 4/3 off the bench behind Pj Washington, though they also have Prosper going into his 2nd year, as more of a defensive option. They could probably still address the wing more than just what they did in the draft, and maybe add another defensive option at the 4/smallball 5 behind PJ Washington
Djj and naji avg same amount of points. And both are defensive guys. I just like jones “hop” a lot more. Jones blocked a lot of 3s as well
You don’t have to tell me about airplane mode; I’m a heat fan lol. Djj is much better defensively, and can also play a little smallball 5, as well as on the wing in certain lineups…he’s better than Marshall, but there are also some things Naji Marshall is better at offensively, andnhe is still an adequate defender, so as long as you address that wing spot, it should be fine, and you guys also drafted Ajinca, who could be an interesting option himself at the 3/4
*offensive option that can adequately defend
Ajinca staying overseas
Dude Marshall is not a 4, Ajinca is not a 4 and Jones cannot play the 5 lol. Slow down and take a rest from commenting basketball
Derrick Jones jr went to the nba finals playing smallball 5 in 2020, so just b/c you still live in the late 90s, doesn’t mean everyone else does…and you just saw the Celtics, the team you constantly complain about size about, win, after seeing other teams do the same…
It’s positional size and length that matters
A good story.. he deserves it. Klay is damaged goods
@david-45 I believe that the problem with using the SnT is that Golden State will be willing, but only for value in return. Golden State passed on Klay and cut CP3 to get under the apron.
In other words, Golden State don’t want Green’s and Maxi’s contracts without other consideration like 1st round picks.
That being said…i actually think Josh Green would be a strong fit on GS, and Dallas would probably then still have to add someone in that wing spot
That’s were you are wrong. GS can get nothing in return by letting klay walk or get a 16m trade exception created for GS….
David-45 , I believe we agree that now that Dallas has used $9M of the $12M MLE, that leaves only $3M, which is too little, so the deal can only be done as a sign-and-trade using the $18M trade exception.
In other words, Dallas is no longer a free agency option for Klay, right?
As in, the only way Klay can go to the Mavs is if the Mavs can first persuade the Warriors to sign Klay, right?
1st it’s 16m not 18m. 2nd I never said dallas would use it’s 12.9 MLE on klay.
3rd and ill repeat myself again. What’s more beneficial for GS? Losing klay for nothing or getting a 16m trade exception they can use on another player at trade deadline or next offseason??? Warriors have no say, klay leaving them one way or another, might as well get something for him.
@david-45 , TPE’s can be hard to understand, so I’ll explain. Keep in mind that the Warriors are committed to being under the cap this year — they’re paying the most luxury tax in the league: facing a 350% tax ‘multiplier’ this year, as 4 year ‘repeat offender’ — so that the penalty schedule “resets”.
TPE’S ARE A TOOL FOR TEAMS OVER THE CAP. TEAMS WITH CAP SPACE CANNOT USE A TPE, AS CAP SPACE NEGATES THE USE OF EXCEPTIONS.
A TPE must be used within one year of the transaction. If the Warriors were planning to be over the luxury tax in one year, a TPE might be of value. Currently, the Warriors are at way under the cap at $144M.
Also GS is is under the lux tax and ~33m away from 1st apron. So they could take on maxi or green contract if they wanted/had too…
@david-45 , the Warriors are not trying to tank. They cleared that $33M to get better, not take on bad contracts. If the Warriors were to take on an $11M contract, it would have to come with a lot of sweeteners.
To understand better, you can read some of the recent analyses about how Mavs could create enough value to enable a sign-and-trade. Most of them involve adding 1st round picks, for example:
link to forbes.com
Hey bud… I was right… warriors got a trade exception in the amount of 16m.