Getty Miami Heat star Duncan Robinson reacts during a postseason contest against the Atlanta Hawks.
The Miami Heat‘s Duncan Robinson has had about as wild a nine-month period as anyone could possibly imagine for an NBA player. In August, the baller put pen to paper on the largest contract extension ever for an undrafted player, re-upping with Miami for five years and $90 million.
Flash forward to now and while the Heat appear to be destined for an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, Robinson has just averaged eight minutes of court time over 10 Heat playoff contests. He has also logged three DNP-CDs in the club’s last five games.
There’s no doubting that this wasn’t what Robinson had in mind when he opted to extend his stay in South Beach. And it would seem that his agents aren’t willing to just roll with this new reality.
At the least, that’s what the conspiracy theorists on hoops Twitter would have us believe.
Robinson’s Management Drops Curiously-Timed Tweet
On Monday morning, when Robinson was just hours removed from his second-straight DNP-CD (and after he had seen just 55 seconds of court time for the whole of Round 2), Robinson’s reps dropped a tweet that some considered a message to the club.
“Exactly 19 months ago today, @D_Bo20 put up 26 points including 7 three-pointers in a win in the 2020 NBA Finals,” the tweet read, while including a link to an Athletic post about the effort.
While this may have been little more than an agency shouting out a past accomplishment from their guy on its anniversary, many took it as a “Hey, remember Duncan? He really needs to be playing” kind of tweet. And some of those fans were riled by the message his agents were seemingly trying to send.
“He scored 26 points but probably gave up 35, that math doesn’t work in today’s NBA,” responded one such fan. “Maybe in y’all office or computer simulation, but not gonna work. Maybe get your boy to work on moving laterally and staying in front of ppl. Just a tiny sliver of defense and he plays.”
“Fast forward 19 months & he is riding the bench for a reason…” added another detractor.
Whether it was truly their intent to send a message or not, the people at Glushon Sports were undoubtedly happy to see Robinson play 14 minutes in Game 5. However, the marksman finished with just four points on 1-of-3 shooting.
The latest Heat news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Heat newsletter here!
Riley Gets Love for His Work as a GM
The Heat overcame a lot to get to where they are in the current campaign, and team president Pat Riley deserves some credit for that success.
The Godfather’s move to pluck Kyle Lowry from the Raptors, his willingness to go out on a limb for players like Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent — not to mention all the signings he had to make when the team was dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks and multiple injuries — definitely warrant some praise. And NBA awards voters did their part to recognize the Godfather.
Although Riley fell short in the voting for Executive of the Year — that distinction ultimately went to Grizzlies VP and general manager Zach Kleiman — he showed up on a number of ballots.
Per voting tabulations released by the league on Thursday, Riley finished fourth with 26 total points, including three first-place votes, three second-place votes and two third-place votes.
READ NEXT: