Naji Marshall is aiming high. The Dallas Mavericks should be happy if he gets meaningfully closer.
Marshall wants to shoot over 45% from three in 2026-27, a bold target after making 29.1% of his attempts from beyond the arc last season. Ambition is useful here, provided nobody mistakes a personal benchmark for the only acceptable definition of his game.
Marshall averaged 15.2 points while shooting 51% overall. That is the profile of a player with more going on than a cold perimeter number. His work inside the arc, physical scoring and ability to make plays give Dallas reasons to care about the jumper without pretending the jumper is the whole case for him.
A modest improvement could still change his possessions considerably. When a defender can sag toward the paint, the driving lane narrows before Marshall has done anything at all. Help can arrive earlier.
A handoff or kickout becomes easier to disrupt. The defender guarding Marshall has more freedom to watch the ball, crowd a teammate’s path or wait for the drive instead of respecting the space beyond the arc.
That pressure does not require Marshall to become a 45% marksman. It requires opponents to believe that leaving him open carries a cost. A better jumper can force a closer closeout, and a closer closeout can give Marshall the choice he wants: attack the gap, stop and make the next pass, or simply take the shot the defense offered.
None of those outcomes is guaranteed by a percentage, but each becomes more plausible when the defender cannot comfortably ignore him.
There is a catch. A higher rate on a small number of attempts would not necessarily make the shot part of his normal responsibilities. Marshall made 62 of 213 threes last season. Dallas should care about whether the improvement survives ordinary opportunities, not merely whether a clean statistical line appears beside a limited workload. The goal is a functional threat, not a summer certificate.
That distinction should shape how the Mavericks view his place on the roster. Marshall does not need to be recast as a specialist waiting in the corner, and Dallas should resist treating every possession as a referendum on his mechanics. His value can come from combining the jumper with drives, interior scoring, passing and the less glamorous work that keeps a possession alive.
The shooting project is worthwhile precisely because it can strengthen those parts rather than replace them.
