After missing five of his previous six games, Mavericks forward Naji Marshall returned to the lineup and will continue to bring an edge to a strong Dallas team, The Athletic’s Christian Clark writes. In 22 games with Dallas, Marshall is averaging 11.8 points, but he also serves to be the muscle of the team.
Marshall began his NBA career on a two-way deal, working his way up to the rotation in New Orleans before signing with the Mavericks this season for three years, $27MM. According to Clark, Marshall signing with the Mavericks was a “sigh of relief” but he knows his work isn’t over.
“I know it’s a narrow window as far as opportunity and just having an overall career in the NBA. I’m in the door, and now I want to stay here,” Marshall said. “Whatever it takes.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- After missing Thursday’s game against the Clippers, Mavericks star Kyrie Irving is off the injury report and will play, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link). Superstar Luka Doncic will remain out with a heel issue that kept him out of Thursday’s loss.
- The Grizzlies sent a mature message in their 51-point drubbing of the Warriors on Thursday, according to Damichael Cole of Memphis Commercial Appeal. Every Grizzlies rotation player scored and six members of the team finished in double figures. The Grizzlies are 19-9 and second in the Western Conference.
- There doesn’t seem to be a need for the Grizzlies to make a consolidating blockbuster trade, even with all their depth, The Athletic’s Kelly Iko opines in a mailbag. They could go for someone like Dorian Finney-Smith of Brooklyn, but the team is firing on all cylinders and shouldn’t blow up the core. In the same mailbag, Iko makes the case for Santi Aldama being Memphis’s fourth-best player and discusses their physicality.
- Grizzlies star Ja Morant suffered a hard fall in the second half of the blowout over Golden State and didn’t return, logging just 17 minutes. That mostly seemed precautionary, as Memphis already had a big lead at that point, but he’s listed as out for Saturday’s game against the Hawks, the Grizzlies tweeted.
- The Pelicans are still struggling to find chemistry amid their injury woes this season, and their defense hit a new low when surrendering 133 points to Houston on Thursday, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes. New Orleans has lost 14 of its last 15 games.
- Despite dropping five in a row, the Pelicans are hoping to get back on track with a five-game home stand, Walker writes in another, subscriber-only story.