Naji Marshall

Lore & Background

Marshall was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey but moved to Maryland at the age of 9. He is the son of Maurice Marshall, who was a professional boxer and is now a basketball coach at an elementary school, and Rayna Whitted, who works at Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C. His name means 'strong warrior' in Arabic and was a nickname of his father's. Marshall has five brothers and one sister and grew up playing football and basketball. In middle school, he played in Atlantic City's Triple-B summer youth league.

He played his first season of high school basketball at Takoma Academy. As a sophomore, he transferred to Eleanor Roosevelt High School but was academically ineligible his first year. As a senior, he averaged 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals per game, leading Eleanor Roosevelt to a 23–3 record. He then attended Hargrave Military Academy as a postgraduate, averaging 20.7 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

He committed to Xavier over offers from Pittsburgh, South Carolina, and Virginia Tech. In college, he was named to the Big East All-Freshman team, Second Team All-Big East as a sophomore, and First Team All-Big East as a junior. He scored 1,277 points in three seasons at Xavier.

Reader's Guide

After going unselected in the 2020 NBA draft, Marshall signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans and their G League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, on December 8, 2020. He made his NBA debut on January 15, 2021, against the Los Angeles Lakers. On May 7, 2021, the Pelicans signed him to a multi-year contract. In his rookie season, he averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. In January 2022, he and Trey Murphy III were assigned to the Pelicans' G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron. On July 6, 2024, Marshall signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks. On December 28, 2024, he was suspended for 4 games after an altercation with Jusuf Nurkić. On August 2, 2026, the Mavericks announced they had re-signed Marshall to a multi-year contract extension; ESPN reported it was a three-year, $52 million extension.

Did You Know?

• He was considered a four-star prospect by three recruiting sites and was ranked the 20th best small forward in his class by ESPN.
• Marshall scored a career-high 31 points twice in college: against St. John's on February 28, 2019, and against Cincinnati on December 7, 2019.
• He hit a game-winning three-pointer with 4.5 seconds left in a 66–63 win at Georgetown on March 1, 2020.