Naji Marshall and the floater from heaven

Once again proving his importance to the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday’s win, Naji Marshall is having a career year. And that’s despite losing a teammate that he cared a lot about, and the noise that followed.

Maybe the best floater in the league. Elite touch in the paint. Career year with the Dallas Mavericks. Luka Doncic supporter. There’s a lot to like about Naji Marshall.

In the Dallas Mavericks’ resounding win over the Sacramento Kings Wednesday in their first play-in game, Naji Marshall was the starting point guard. A role he has dabbled in recently and which has given Dallas new looks and size, as they’re without Kyrie Irving for the foreseeable future due to the devastating injury he suffered about a month ago, and in serious need of point guard play.

His statline doesn’t do him credit, because despite only putting up nine points, he managed to set the table and control the offense very efficiently. He had a quietly impressive game, especially in the first quarter, where he led the Mavs in scoring for most of the quarter.

And the fact of the matter is that Naji Marshall is having a career year in Dallas. He’s not only averaging more points than he ever has before in his NBA career, but also more rebounds, assists and steals than he ever did in his four years with the New Orleans Pelicans.

13.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and one steal in 27 minutes per game to be exact.

The fact that Marshall has managed to produce in this way, despite going through maybe one of the emotionally hardest seasons in his career, at least in Mavs history, is remarkable.

Marshall’s career year can, however, in some part be explained in the fact that he generally has had a lot of space in Dallas. When bigs don’t clog up the paint, Marshall is usually dominating with his slashing and very effective floater. A lot of his best and most dominating play (scoring wise) comes when centers Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford – and now Anthony Davis – have been injured or out and the Mavs have been forced to play small ball.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of more minutes and more space, however, is not a given. The fact that Marshall has stepped up is a great sign – also of mental balance and strength when looking at the context – and the development of Marshall as an important scorer, and perhaps a valid point guard option – is very valuable for the Mavs. Even when they go big.

For someone who in November, two months before the trade, said of Doncic, who was injured at the time: “Ultra superstar. In clutch situations, we would love to have him… Hopefully my guy gets right and when he gets back, he can take over”, this must have been a tough few months for him. And that makes his rise and consistency even more remarkable.

And when Doncic returned to Dallas with the Los Angeles Lakers in the highly anticipated game last week, Marshall did a little thing that spoke volumes. As Austin Reaves celebrated with Doncic, Marshall walked behind them and gave Reaves a little push afterward. It seemed a little like a jealous sibling, or an old friend left out and jealous of the new one. Either way, there can be no doubt about Marshall’s loyalty. I’ll let you be the judge:

Marshall’s floater has been so automatic this season that it sometimes has been shocking to witness for Mavs fans and observers. A skill not many players have optimized to this level in the league, and it makes him an entertaining watch and efficient player in almost every game.

But according to Marshall, however, his floater game is nothing new, we just haven’t been paying attention. Actually, he’s been doing it since preschool, he told Grant Afseth of Sportskeeda:

“I’ve had the floater my whole life. That’s what I do. My first game, I was probably shooting floaters. So, we’re talking 20 years now. I’ve been doing it since I was four. It’s all about practice and repetition at this point,” Naji Marshall said last November.

20 years of floaters already, hopefully we’re in for a least a decade more of this simple, yet hard to execute, mid-range shot of dreams.

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