Naji Marshall has signed a two-way deal with the Pelicans

Naji Marshall did not hear his name called in the 2020 NBA draft. Despite showing up as high as the early second round in mock drafts, Naji did not garner enough interest to have a team commit a second round pick to him on draft day. That's the bad news.

The good news is that it doesn't have to end there for Naji.

He now enters the free agent pool and is free to try to find a landing spot with any team in the league. It's fairly common for undrafted free agents to land two-way contracts with franchises that will give them the chance to work on particular skills - in Naji's case almost certainly jump shooting - in the G League to make themselves more attractive to their parents club or another team needing a particular role filled. Names will come off the board fairly frequently in the next few days as teams pick up guys who didn't get drafted last night.

Of course, there's also the opportunity to play overseas, where plenty of Xavier players have carved out nice careers. That probably wouldn't be Naji's first choice, but it beats going back to school to finish that degree while playing for free (apparently).

Either way, Naji is going to get paid to play ball this year and for a good while after. Watch this space for the particulars as they break.

Update: Naji has signed a two-way deal with the New Orleans Pelicans, as reported by everybody and his mom but Matt Babcock first. Naj will now get the privilege of cashing checks to play ball on his home continent while he works to make the league.