Naji Marshall is finding his footing in a much better Mavericks role

Naji Marshall has had an up-and-down start to the season for the Dallas Mavericks, as he missed three games due to illness and has had a few rough offensive performances. However, Marshall is finding his footing in a more optimized role recently, as he was overextended as a primary initiator for much of last season due to Dallas' lack of guard play.

Don't get it twisted, Marshall is still getting his fair share of opportunities to dish and drive, and he's been a primary creator off the bench. With Kyrie Irving back in the lineup and Dallas' backup guards being viable to start the season, though, Marshall isn't having to take as much of an offensive load compared to last season.

Naji Marshall is finding different ways to impact the game in a new role

The biggest difference in the last few games compared to the start of the season for Marshall has been his ability to impact the game in different ways. He's been a good playmaker and heady passer all season long, as he's averaged 5.3 assists per game through nine contests, but now his defense is coming along, and he's not forcing outside shots when they aren't dropping.

Marshall was instrumental in Dallas' comeback effort against the San Antonio Spurs that nearly spoiled a gaudy performance by Victor Wembanyama last Wednesday. He hit multiple timely fourth-quarter 3-pointers to keep Dallas in the game, despite shooting a rough 27.3 percent from outside this season thus far.

While he may not project to be a stopper at the point of attack at this point in his career, Marshall is seemingly making more splashy defensive plays compared to last season, and a big reason for this could be that he isn't having to expend as much energy on the offensive side of the ball. He had a huge block on a high-flyer in Josh Green in Dallas' NBA Cup win versus the Utah Jazz on Friday, even though Marshall isn't necessarily known for his verticality.

Marshall has been persistent despite early illness and shooting struggles

He's also been bringing the energy and standing on business all season, as evidenced by when he backed up Cooper Flagg after a dirty foul by Aaron Nesmith when Dallas played the Indiana Pacers, as well as when he celebrated and got hype following an alley-oop assist to Morez Johnson Jr. for a thunderous throw-down versus Utah.

Marshall hasn't evolved into the knockdown 3-point shooter he hoped he could be up to this point in the season, but true to his nickname, he's been Dallas' ultimate Swiss-army knife on a game-to-game basis. While his shooting and ability to get into the lane to kill teams with floaters haven't been as consistent as one would hope to start the season, he's finding other ways to impact the game based on whatever the Mavericks need in a specific game.

He's also averaging 1.3 steals per game, which would be his career-high if the season ended today, and he can enter himself into the sixth-man-of-the-year conversation if he has some more efficient shooting stretches as the season goes along. Despite missing three games already and having some rough shooting performances, Marshall is finding his way under Dusty May in this new Mavericks system, and he's justified Dallas' decision to give him a contract extension so far.

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