Getty Duncan Robinson #55 of the Miami Heat reacts after hitting a basket against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 29, 2021.
Miami Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson broke a new NBA record during the team’s 124-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night. The 27-year-old shooting guard became the fastest player in the league’s history to record 500 three-pointers.
To celebrate, Heat All-Star Bam Adebayo shared the most hilarious photo of his teammate on Instagram, a throwback to when Robinson was just starting his basketball career at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusettes.
Adebayo captioned Robinson’s high school picture with two hashtags: “Bounce Back” and “500.” Victor Oladipo commented, “Man… why you do this lol.” After the photo went viral, Robinson posted the perfect response on Instagram.
Robinson wrote, “I’m gonna let this slide cause you’ve assisted me on like half of them” with two crying laughing-face emojis. And Adebayo kept the jokes coming. Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang asked the Heat center during the postgame conference if he takes pride in Robinson’s milestone because of their symbiotic on-court relationship, “Duncan needs to take my big a** to dinner,” Adebayo said.
Fastest player to 500 treys in the history of basketball.
👏 @D_Bo20
Heat’s head coach Erik Spoelstra noted that it’s a team effort that propelled Robinson to becoming that fastest player to notch 500 threes.
“I think it’s also a credit to his teammates, who really work to get him open, starting with Bam and [Jimmy Butler],” Spoelstra said. “Bam really committed to getting Duncan a handful of free looks every game, and JB always attracts a crowd. So with the way he plays and how unselfish he is, that usually opens up things for Duncan. It’s a great symbiotic relationship.”
Robinson Was Impressively Humble After Smashing Luka Doncic’s Three-Point Record
Duncan Robinson is the fastest EVER to 500 threes made…
1. DUNCAN ROBINSON
2. Luka Doncic
3. Damian Lillard
4. Donovan Mitchell
5. Klay Thompson
Despite smashing NBA star Luka Doncic’s three-point record by 35 games, Robinson clearly still thinks of himself as the guy who went undrafted out of Michigan, beyond grateful that the Heat took a chance on him on July 10, 2018, and signed him to a two-way contract.
“I’m sure there’s going to be somebody that comes around and instead of 85% of his shots are threes, 95% of his shots are threes, and this record will be short-lived,” Robinson said.
I asked Duncan Robinson last night about his 500 three milestone, as well as reflecting back if he ever envisioned this being possible:
Thus far this season, Robinson is averaging 13 points per game, and he chalked up being the fastest player to reach 500 three-pointers as simply being in the right place at the right time:
I say it often, I’m certainly a beneficiary of the times. There’s a good chance that if I’d come around 20 years earlier, I definitely probably wouldn’t have been an NBA player. So it’s a skill that’s valued. And the thing I love about this place, in Miami, is they just let me be me. They encourage me to be aggressive, give me nothing but support and breathe life into me and give me confidence and it makes my job a whole lot easier.
Robinson always keeps it real when it comes to his NBA career. Last month, he spoke about what it’s like when your name gets tossed around in trade talks.
“One thing I don’t have a shortage of, moments of being humbled in my basketball career, thinking that I got it figured out and quickly realizing that I don’t,” Robinson said on his podcast The Long Shot. “At this point, if I weren’t able to apply that to my situation now then I would just be doing myself a serious disservice. Of course, anyone who says that they’re able to block it out entirely is just lying.”
“Of course, it’s everywhere, so even if you turn off your phone or you delete social media, which I do, it’s unrealistic to say that it’s gone,” Robinson continued. “Because you know it’s happening and you know that it exists. I think the important thing is to just keep the main thing the main thing.”
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