Naji Marshall Beats the Flu Game Allegations, Cleared for Friday

Naji Marshall has officially defeated whatever mid-autumn bug was going around the Dallas locker room. Underdog NBA confirmed the Mavericks forward is available to play this Friday, ending a brief stint on the injury report for an illness.

Getting Marshall back is a massive relief for a Dallas rotation that looks completely different when he sits. You do not hand a guy a three-year extension just to watch him drink Gatorade in street clothes, and the Mavericks desperately need his edge back on the floor.

"Underdog NBA reported: 'Naji Marshall (illness) available to play Friday.'"

Marshall has been an absolute workhorse to start the 2026 campaign. He is logging nearly 28 minutes a night and putting up 13.7 points to go with 5.7 assists per game. Those are not just empty calories. He has essentially taken over the second-unit point guard duties, which is a wild sentence to type but entirely accurate based on how Dallas is using him.

He has also fully embraced his role as the team's unofficial bodyguard. Just ask Cooper Flagg, who watched Marshall eat a double technical to defend him after a hard foul earlier this season. Every contender needs a guy who is willing to turn a basketball game into a wrestling match, and Marshall is currently that guy for Dallas.

His return is exactly the kind of unsexy news that quietly shifts the betting markets. When a secondary playmaker who handles the ball this much comes back, it changes the assist props and second-half point spreads for the entire roster. The books know exactly how much he matters to the Mavericks' bench production, even if the casual fan is just looking at the star players.

Now that his immune system has done its job, Marshall will slot right back into his heavy-rotation role on Friday. Expect him to pick up right where he left off, running the offense for the reserves and making life miserable for whoever he is assigned to guard.