After the Miami Heat extended qualifying offers to Dru Smith and Davion Mitchell and picked up Keshad Johnson’s guaranteed contract for 2025-26, their lone order of operations was awaiting Duncan Robinson’s ETO (early termination option) decision before free agency tips off on Monday.
Heading into the final year of a five-year, $90 million deal he signed ahead of 2021-22, Robinson had until Sunday to exercise his $19.9 million ETO, meaning he would become an unrestricted free agent.
It was always a possibility, and that’s what he did. However, could there still be a reunion for the 31-year-old sharpshooter? Don’t be surprised if that’s the case.
Heat can still bring Duncan Robinson back on team-friendly contract. Should they?
Only $9.9 million of Duncan’s $19.9 million salary was guaranteed through July 8, but Robinson did the Heat a huge favor by opting out, putting them roughly $14 million below the luxury tax and $19.4 million out from the first apron.
Thus, the Heat not only opened up their $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, but also more flexibility for sign-and-trades and the use of their three trade exceptions.
Team president Pat Riley was open about potentially ducking the tax to avoid repeater tax penalties. The luxury tax penalties will become more onerous in 2025-26, making it important to hit the reset button if you’re nowhere near contention, which the Heat aren’t.
That said, widespread speculation circulated that Miami is open to the idea of retaining Robinson, the greatest shooter in franchise history, on a team-friendly contract closer to his $9.9 million guarantee.
You could argue that it’s wise to move on from Robinson because of his ailing back. But there’s also a legitimate case for bringing him back at an inexpensive price.
At worst, he’s their best movement shooter, one of their best passers and advantage exploiters. He also has irreplaceable gravity. Last season, Robinson averaged 11.0 points on 43.7 percent shooting and 39.3 percent from 3-point range, and has shot a combined 39.9 percent from deep (7.3 3PA!!!) over his last six seasons.
You could make a cogent argument that you can’t maximize the Heat’s core without Robinson, even if he eats up 20-25 minutes that could be dispersed to your best young players.
While his consecutive back injuries could be troublesome in both the short- and long-term, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option at an inexpensive price. There are players on this roster who have played their last Heat game, but do you think Robinson should be one of them?
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pretty quiet here no heat deals.atl and orlando clearly better,charlotte and heat about the same.thank u washington for suking
alexander walker going to atlanta join porzingis.atl with healthy players coming back better than us wow pat wake the f up.must be kuminga coming here i hope
brook lopez to clippers that makes no sense with zubac there.why not the lakers sunman
houstons loaded denvers better the heat?
is pat up at this hour or do 80 year olds go to sleep at 8p
hey pat wake up make a trade or do something
den gets cam johnson for mpjr also pick up bruce brown now thats a gm doing his job.houston signing lots players going to chase jewelry with kd
lebron heading to dallas makes sense that would be wild.
Right now it sounds like he comes back or S&T to Detroit or Brooklyn.
If the team wants to move on from Duncan, fine. But this team is already lacking 3pt shooting and Herro would be the only real threat left. Please don’t say Burks a 33 year old journeyman who could fall off a cliff at any minute. At least Duncan commanded attention from other defenses. So let him walk, but they need to find someone that is a legit threat. Maybe it comes in a trade, say the Wiggins for Rui and Knecht trade rumor.
Also, roster is almost maxed out, so that is a factor as well.
I wonder what he can get on open market.. 2 year, 15 mill maybe?
teams value defense now ,any team that gets him is gonna be disappointed.i dont think his value is very high thats why he prob takes a pay cut stay here with his fellow onewayers
Why would Burks fall off a cliff? He seems to be in good shape. He is older than Duncan, but it’s not as if Duncan is 27. Burks shot 42.5% from 3 last season, Duncan 39.3%. Burks is a career 38.6%, Duncan 39.7%.
If Duncan agreed to a similar salary to Burks, say $4-6 million, no problem in keeping him. But at twice the salary? I wouldn’t.
People talk about Duncan’s D while Burks was worse. Plus, he’s not nearly the play maker Duncan had become. Okay, you like the contract.
Yes, I am talking mostly about the money.
whos an allround better player
burks d is not worse thats 100% wrong.burks gotta a handle better than duncs.shooting relatively similar.theres nobdy in the nba thats worse or stupider on d than 55.how many times have u seen dunc just grab a mans jersey after getting beat.some of the dummest fouls he has committed.i respect your bball knowledge pls dont say burks d is worse.few pluses for dunc very few turnovers and a good passer.but hes unplayable just watch the nba finals.u cant play dunc nowadays hes made for the 1960s
As if you watch and study approximately 350-400 players in the league. Do I think he’s good defensively? Hell no! The worst? Probably not even close.
come on rc i cant see a guy play worse d the grabbing holding has got to stop now in miami.no athleticism and more importantly terrible instincts cant get much worse than him.i watched lots playoffs couldnt mention a guy as bad as uncans d.,i dont like singling him out since hes a heater but his def instincts are awful.
Maybe the guys who are worse weren’t on a playoff team.
My lasting memory of Duncan Robinson will be him – hitting a huge 3-pointer in Game-7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against Boston – then running around a silent Boston Garden with his hand to his ear.
I’ve seen a lot of talented players wear Miami Heat uniforms over the past couple decades. Guys that were more athletic, guys that were better defenders, guys that were big time free-agent signings or trades that would make the haters on HHH praise Pat Riley. I haven’t seen many undrafted G-Leaguers play key roles on teams that made multiple runs to the Finals.
He’s certainly not a top-10 or top-20 Heat player of all-time. Maybe a top-10 guard, but I doubt it. I’d have to do the homework. But I’ll say this:
Duncan Robinson is probably the best 3-point shooting specialist in Heat history. The numbers bear it out, whether you’re looking at percentages, volume, or wins. I wish him the best wherever he ends up next.
As much I like Dunc, I think is time to move on for both Dunc and Heat.
Also, I m sick watching him and Bam playing that two mans game, which was basically a play, provided for situations when Heat was in troubles. Since there were always in troubles, we saw a lot of that, and more troubles after that, when Dunc failed to hit 3p.
So, good thing about sending him somewhere else is to Spo provides another play to replace that.
Yoi have hit the nail on the head here. This is something I would not miss. We got way too much of that Bam/Dunc dribble hand off play and it is the epitome of all the struggles that we had to witness in the last season.
Ignore Statler and Waldorf down there, bring back Duncan!
What about Ayton as a free agent? Anyone like him?
Definitely not Miami Heat type of player. Very talented, but also very soft player.
A mix of KAT and Whiteside. So no for me.
kat and whiteside aka soft and white lol good one vagi how bout turtle(lowry) also?
I was just thinking abt it. Ayton as backup C. He can’t complain to Riles like he’d been doing in his teams. But yeah not a culture player as vagibugi here said
big guy would like that
i would use some of duncs money for him hes an island guy
I would not bring him back, especially at the proposed $10 million per year and a 3 year contract. Loyalty is admirable, but fiscal irresponsibility is not. We helped give him an NBA life and enough money to set up him and his family for life. He worked hard and was mostly available, but it’s time to move on.
As far as liking a player, I find Dunc one of the most likable. But, the idea of paying Burks 3million as opposed to Dunc’s ten or even 8, makes sense to me as they are not far apart in what they bring us overall. Then there is the bigger issue of redundancy of skills and limitations. Some of the one way players have to go, sad to say. I do think Dunc will find a spot elsewhere. Wishing Duncan well, although I still see the possibility we keep him as that is what Pat does have a tendency of doing. We shall see
I agree. We can appreciate all that he has brought to the team, but his skill set is basically redundant with another player at a much lower salary.
if both are good players who cares if there redundant.burks at 3 mil is ok he can guard ok not great on a good team burks is like the 10 th11 th player like he was on the knicks ,dunc and his d need to gtfoh.i think his offensive game is ok not great but that d jesus christ dont get any worse than him.
Sometimes there are inconvenient truths that we wish weren’t so, but they are.