{"id":152516,"date":"2025-07-28T10:18:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=152516"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:19:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:19:23","slug":"naji-marshall-luka-doncic-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/07\/28\/naji-marshall-luka-doncic-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Don\u010di\u0107 Left Off Mavericks All-Time List by Former Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks joined the NBA as a franchise for the 1980-81 season. Throughout their history, they have had some great players and Hall of Fame legends. But when it comes to enjoying success with the franchise, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> has had as much success as anyone not named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nowitdi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dirk Nowitzki<\/a>. Well, apparently, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/marshna01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Naji Marshall<\/a> doesn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_127736\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-127736\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-127736\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Mavericks continue to suffer one injury after another\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/03\/USATSI_25627309_168415934_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-127736\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 9, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Naji Marshall (13) looks on during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Luka Don\u010di\u0107 Left Off Mavericks All-Time List by Former Teammate<\/h2>\n<p>Naji Marshall and Luka Doncic were teammates for only half a season. Marshall joined the Mavericks before the start of the 2024-25 season. Midway through the season, Doncic was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a>. That might be a reason why Marshall doesn\u2019t believe Doncic belongs in the all-timestarting five for the Mavericks. Asked to name his all-time starting five for the Mavericks, Marshall listed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kiddja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Kidd<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/finlemi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Finley<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chandty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyson Chandler<\/a>, and Nowitzki.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Naji Marshall\u2019s all-time starting five:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Jason Kidd<br \/>&#8211; Kyrie Irving<br \/>&#8211; Michael Finley<br \/>&#8211; Dirk Nowitzki<br \/>&#8211; Tyson Chandler <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2mR8lVHrbn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/2mR8lVHrbn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Noah Weber (@noahweber00) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/noahweber00\/status\/1949631172880793693?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, Luka didn\u2019t make the list, even though he has spent more years in Dallas than Irving. He has also enjoyed the most individual success as the leader of the time aside from Nowitzki. Maybe the wounds in Dallas are still fresh, but Doncic was not the one who left the team. It seems like his former teammate might be a bit sour about the whole situation.<\/p>\n<h3>How Luka Compares to the All-Time Starting Five by Naji?<\/h3>\n<p>Looking at the list, we can say that the forward spots are well deserved. We can debate whether Doncic can play a small forward role instead of Finley even if he\u2019s rarely played there, but he should be a guard on the Mavs\u2019 all-time starting five.<\/p>\n<p>The franchise has been to the NBA Finals only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/DAL\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three times<\/a>, and to the Western Conference Finals six times. Doncic, as the leading player on the Mavs, has guided them to two of those Western Conference Finals and one NBA Finals appearance. Nowitzki guided them to two NBA Finals appearances, winning a title in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The debate is between Irving, Kidd, and Doncic, and which two should take the starting guard spots. We have to admit Kidd is a more accomplished player, but he enjoyed most of his success with the New Jersey Nets. Kidd won the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/26\/10-best-nba-draft-picks-in-dallas-mavericks-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Rookie of the Year<\/a> award in Dallas, but was then traded to the Suns, and from there, he wound up on the Nets. He eventually came back to Dallas, but wasn\u2019t as prolific during his second stint with the team.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic, on the other hand, has had a streak of five consecutive All-NBA first team selections, something even Nowitzki hasn\u2019t accomplished in a Mavericks uniform. In fact, Nowitzki has four such selections in total, and more second and third team selections (eight combined). Kidd, for example, has four consecutive first team selections and five in total. Three of those were with the Phoenix Suns, and two with the Nets.<\/p>\n<p>Picking Irving over Doncic is another insult. Irving was the second-best player on the team when he shared the court with Doncic. Irving has three All-NBA selections, and none of them were on the first team. More importantly, he has been part of the Mavs for only two and a half seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe Naji Marshall is trying to make the fit work, but Luka Doncic is such a great player that he can fit with anybody. In fact, he played with Dirk during his rookie season.<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Dallas Mavericks joined the NBA as a franchise for the 1980-81 season. Throughout their history, they have had some great players and Hall of Fame legends. But when it comes to enjoying success with the franchise, Luka Doncic has had as much success as anyone not named Dirk Nowitzki. Well, apparently, Naji Marshall doesn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":152530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,30,62,3],"tags":[161,218,406,1133,2130,2288,647],"class_list":["post-152516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-mavericks","category-nba","category-news","tag-dirk-nowitzki","tag-jason-kidd","tag-kyrie-irving","tag-luka-doncic","tag-michael-finley","tag-naji-marshall","tag-tyson-chandler"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152516"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152531,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152516\/revisions\/152531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}