The Dallas Mavericks made a decision about their forward rotation Sunday night, and it doubled as a decision about one of the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 longest-running trade pursuits.<\/p>\n
Naji Marshall, the two-way wing the Lakers inquired about at the February deadline and were encouraged to revisit this summer, signed a three-year, $52.2 million contract extension with Dallas, per ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a>, taking one of the cleanest theoretical fits for the Lakers\u2019 open forward spot off the market through the end of the decade.<\/p>\n The Deal Naji Marshall Signed<\/p>\n Charania reported the extension is fully guaranteed and runs through the 2029-30 season. Marc Stein of The Stein Line added the structure<\/a>: The deal starts at $18.2 million in 2027-28 and declines in each subsequent season, to $17.3 million in 2028-29 and $16.7 million in 2029-30.<\/p>\n The raise is enormous relative to where Marshall stood a day ago. He was entering the final season of his original Dallas contract at $9.4 million, meaning the Mavericks nearly doubled his annual salary after the best statistical season of his career.<\/p>\n Through 52 games as of mid-February, Marshall was averaging 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 53.1 percent from the field \u2014 production that made him one of the most coveted role players in the league at the deadline.<\/p>\n Dallas turned away trade overtures for Marshall all season and views the extension as a statement that the 28-year-old forward is part of the long-term core being assembled around Cooper Flagg.<\/p>\n The Lakers\u2019 Pursuit That Never Had a Chance<\/p>\n Lakers fans have seen Marshall\u2019s name in their team\u2019s rumor cycle for the better part of a year, and the interest was real. Ahead of the February deadline, Dan Woike of The Athletic reported that Marshall was among the wings drawing attention from the Lakers\u2019 front office \u2014 while noting in the same breath that any deal between these two franchises faced a unique obstacle.<\/p>\n The pathways to a Dallas trade, Woike wrote<\/a>, \u201chave gigantic \u2018road closed\u2019 signs all over them\u201d in the aftermath of the Luka Doncic blockbuster.<\/p>\n That February reporting sketched the whole shape of the Lakers\u2019 wing problem. Woike noted the front office had been connected to nearly every defensive wing available \u2014 Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III, Derrick Jones Jr. and Isaac Okoro among them \u2014 while showing consistent reluctance to compromise the 2027 cap flexibility it has guarded all along.<\/p>\n The deadline ended with the Lakers landing Luke Kennard as their wing addition rather than any of the defensive-minded targets, and the Marshall thread was left dangling into the summer.<\/p>\n It kept some life through the spring. ESPN\u2019s Kevin Pelton listed Marshall among the logical Dallas trade targets<\/a> for the Lakers this offseason, reasoning that a front office no longer run by Nico Harrison might eventually be willing to do business with Los Angeles again. The extension is Dallas\u2019s answer to that theory, and it is not the answer the Lakers wanted.<\/p>\n The Trade-Eligibility Wrinkle \u2014 and Why It Changes Little<\/p>\n There is one technical caveat worth understanding before anyone declares this door welded shut. Salary cap analyst Yossi Gozlan noted that \u201cNaji Marshall remains trade-eligible based on this structure,\u201d because the deal fits within the league\u2019s extend-and-trade limits \u2014 the starting salary sits under the allowable threshold and the annual declines stay within five percent.<\/p>\n It looks like Naji Marshall remains trade-eligible based on this structure.<\/p>\n $18,195,000 is the most he can get within extend-and-trade limits, which is 120 percent of the estimated average salary.<\/p>\n And the annual declines are all 5 percent or fewer.https:\/\/t.co\/qKBtz1Aw82<\/a><\/p>\n