Former New Orleans Pelicans Wing Has ‘Insulting’ NBA 2K25 Rating

A former New Orleans Pelicans player received a surprisingly low rating in NBA 2K25.

Jan 13, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Naji Marshall (8) in action during the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans at the American Airlines Center. / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

A lot has been made of the changes that the New Orleans Pelicans underwent this offseason. They have been praised for their acquisition of guard Dejounte Murray in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, as he will make the team more dynamic on both ends of the floor.

While the addition of Murray is an exciting one, the Pelicans do have some holes to fill on the roster. 

They have a huge hole in the middle at center to figure out after Jonas Valanciunas departed in free agency and Larry Nance Jr. was part of the package sent to the Hawks. Those are two rotation players that will need to be replaced.

A loss that isn’t getting as much attention as it should be is the departure of Naji Marshall. A versatile wing, Marshall was a key piece of Willie Green’s rotation, playing in 66 games last season and averaging 19 minutes per game.

His numbers certainly don’t jump off the stat sheet, as he averaged only 7.1 points with 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. The efficiency was excellent, as he made a career-high 46.3 percent of his shots from the field overall and 38.7 percent from 3-point range.

He is going to be a great addition to the Dallas Mavericks rotation, as his skill set fits perfectly alongside Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. The quintessential 3-and-D player, he should step right into the role vacated by Derrick Jones Jr., who signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers.

While Marshall’s impact in real life is evident, he has received no respect from the people giving ratings in NBA 2K25. Over at Bleacher Report, Grant Hughes highlighted the most insulting rating for a player on each team.

For the Mavericks, it was Marshall’s shockingly low defensive rating. He received a 64, which is just flat-out wrong for a player who performed at such a high-level last season.

Being in the 91st percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus/Minus is enough to warrant a higher rating. As is the fact one of his teammates, not exactly known for defense, is rated higher.

“It kind of makes sense that Naji Marshall is so badly underrated on defense, as there aren't easy categories to map onto a skill set defined by aggression and tenacity. But we should at least agree he deserves to rate ahead of teammate Luka Dončić on D,” Hughes wrote.

There are a lot of things that the superstar guard does well; locking down on the defensive end of the court normally isn’t one of them. Receiving what would be considered a failing grade in some regard is certainly underwhelming.

How New Orleans deployed Marshall last season was enough to warrant a defensive rating at least in the 80s. The Pelicans have consistently been one of the stronger defensive teams in the NBA under Green and the versatile wing was a big reason why.