Once upon a time, Miami ran on Duncan.
Before our very eyes, Duncan Robinson not only became the greatest shooter in Miami Heat franchise history, but also became one of the league’s most dynamic threats from distance. He became the fastest player to 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1,000 threes; at one point, he was a focal point of the Heat’s offense (DHOs!!!); he also underwent most of his development as a ballhandler and playmaker during his time in South Florida, becoming more than just a 3-point shooter.
But Robinson departed for greener pastures last offseason, signing a three-year, $48 million deal with the Detroit Pistons. Simone Fontecchio, who Miami received as part of the sign-and-trade, had an up-and-down season and didn’t quite replicate Robinson’s value.
Now, with the Miami Heat at the forefront of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, one of the teams rumored to be involved is the Detroit Pistons, and one of those players in the mix to be moved is the Heat’s all-time leader in made threes.
Pistons may need to facilitate Duncan Robinson’s salary:
Whether the Heat acquire Antetokounmpo or not, re-routing Tyler Herro should be atop their offseason priorities.
It’s mutually beneficial for both sides to split. The Pistons are the rumored frontrunner to acquire the one-time All-Star in any swap involving Antetokounmpo, though Detroit would need to send out at least $25.5 million to make the money work for Herro’s $33 million expiring.
And if there are more moving parts, the likelihood that Robinson’s deal increases.
Five Reasons Sports’ insider Ethan Skolnick reported over the weekend that the possibility looms that the Heat could reacquire the 6-foot-7 wing, who averaged 11.3 points on 39.7 percent shooting from beyond the arc in seven seasons with Miami.
While this isn’t based on any sourcing, every side appears to be negotiating names as Tuesday’s (soft) deadline looms.
Robinson will be owed $16.0 million in 2026-27 and $15.2 million the following season, his age-33 campaign. Robinson had one of the best years of his career alongside Cade Cunningham. He averaged 12.2 points on 41.0 percent from deep, his highest since 2019-20, his first full season in Miami.
Regardless if he’s sent to Miami or not, any Antetokounmpo trade is going to be complicated. There’s no question that Robinson would seamlessly fit alongside Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo as a player who possesses a lot of shooting gravity.
Hypothetically speaking (everything remains speculation at this point), Miami would require as much floor spacing as possible around those two. He’s also an outstanding passer and vastly improved off the bounce. At just 9.7 percent of the cap, you’d be hard-pressed to find a much better option in the trade market if a deal comes to fruition.
It’s worth mentioning that any deal involving Robinson heading back to Miami couldn’t be made official until the new league year. That was the most likely outcome anyway since Miami is expected to part ways with the No. 13 overall pick. But that’s still an important footnote.
Would you welcome Duncan Robinson back? Let us know in the comments below!
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does dusty may trade for vlad keep an eye out on that
What does he trade, a carton of cigarettes and two quarts of pork fried rice?
do u live in so fla?
if you get 29 year old brown might as well keep greek a few years older and much better player.greek wants out or else why not add on to the roster.unless they have no cap or apron room.u add a ja and a damar with greek and co that would be a team that could challenge nyk and co
5050 for greek miami heat or boston frozen ice.warmth feels so good on the body .greek knows that athens same weather as miami.if your coming from athens to live in usa and u have to choose between miami and boston.id say 90% are choosing miami.
But he has lived in Milwaukee for years. I heard it’s cold there too.
but he does road trips in dec jan feb march and feels that beautiful warmth and prob prefers the warmth like most northerners who move down here
oh well, I m going to sleep, hopefully in the morning this will be over.
Washington gave Young over 40 mill a year. Are they nuts?
I just came here to post this same thing. That contract is terrifying. Ouch.
ez on my generals they know what they are doing.lol
According to what I just read, it’s $53m per year. Hawks give him up for a can of beans, now this. Crazy!
212.. for 4 years.. I miscalculate.. over 50 a year…. no wonder WAS is what it is…
and player option last year.
Should be if player decline his option last year, he does that for longer contract with less money a year?
We shouldnt be surprised if Herro asked for similar money. I dont think he is worse player then Young. There are big time suckers in NBA.
That’s why they’re called the Generals. Desperate people do desperate things.
I hope Riley keeps his head and sticks to his guns. He’s holding a full house. He should check to the Bucks and the Celtics. There is no reason to raise.
The only team that can outbid Miami is Boston, if they throw in Brown. Miami can’t compete with that. The next move is either Boston’s or Milwaukee’s. This is the time for the Heat to sit back, relax, prepare for the draft and explore other options.
It’s down to we get Giannis or we make the 13th pick tomorrow. Either way we’ll know more about the upcoming season.
the chances the 13th pick has a career like giannis 1% career like winslow 75% .ck previous 13th picks
Zach LaVine, Booker, Karl Malone, Kobe. Giannis was 15.
Never heard of them. 🙂
donovan mitchell drafted 13th
Yup, I meant to add his name.
lots ugly names on lucky 13 list
including bam
30+ year olds traded:
James Harden (multiple times)
Anthony Davis (multiple times)
Kevin Durant (multiple times)
Kyrie Irving
Paul George
Zero championships won by that group after the trades. Just saying trading for a superstar doesn’t guarantee success. The Nets had Harden and Durant. The 76ers had Harden and George. The Mavericks had Kyrie and AD. Durant has been added to multiple super teams. The odds the 13th pick has the career of any of these guys is low, but so are the odds that Giannis wins a title in Miami.
Shaq was 32 when traded to Heat, Oscar Robertson was 32, Wilt was 31, those are the historical comps to a Giannis trade at the same age
How many championships did they each win before and after the trades?
Oscar 0, 1, Wilt 1, 1, Shaq 3, 1
Those are the historical comps huh? Those are ancient history. Wilt and Big O are great players who essentially played in an entirely different league than what we have today.
Shaq also played in a very different league. Shaq is also considered the most dominant big man in history.
None of those players were considered to have injury problems….
None of those players were the best player on their team when they won a title in the second (or third) stops. Jerry West led the Lakers. Kareem the Bucks and DWade the Heat.
Giannis coming here to be second fiddle? If so, to who…
But go on about who the comps are.
Wilt was the Finals MVP in 72
Winning isn’t everything. There are things in life far worse than a huge salary, warm weather, no state taxes, being able to bring your brothers along as part of the package and making the playoffs.
Great pick to have in this draft, a much stronger draft than normal. I would take Steinbach if available
Great rebounder but too slow for defending outside of the painted area. There are other options with higher potential ceilings.
Don’t agree with that, he has one of the highest upsides in the draft imo
I really like him, but think there would be a better choice for the Heat at 13.
There may be several, depending on what surprises there are in the top 10 selections. There are always a couple.
Kzuma part of a up-coming trade? Or using the timing of the trade to promote something?
Gotta imagine if he’s part of the trade, it’s Boston, not Miami. Just not sure how the assets would line-up otherwise, unless Miami is giving up Wiggins too.
Kuzma is in the sucky phase of his career.
The situation will be solved soon. If there is JB involved, the trade depends of what Bucks can get for him. If thats more then in Miami (for sure it is) than thats it.
Thats essentially a trade of a great disgrundled player with a lot of leverage for another almost as great, with no leverage.
JB is one of the most overrated players in the NBA, nowhere near Giannis. On top 5 worst contracts list two years ago. Now coming off his best season, only season finishing in top 10 in MVP voting (he was 6th), and Celtics were 5 points better with him off the court. If MIL does actually do a Giannis for Brown swap and its not just a leverage play that’s a big win for Boston, terrible move for MIL.
Its probably JB and a pick for Giannis.
Would be an all time heist by Boston if that happens
Maybe there is the best offer then can get. Surely is a better offer then what Heat is offering.
It’s not a better offer than Miami but it does have a “star” return in a trade, who is paid the same as Giannis. If MIL actually does it they’re fools. They’d be paying Brown, Turner, and Lillard combined >100m per year
Maybe they start the season with him hoping he plays like he did this past season and get big offers. It’s risky though as he could get injured.
IMO his contract and extension is much more of a limiting factor in a trade than Giannis’. Next month he’ll be eligible for the 2 yr/ $141m extension starting in 2029-30.
The explanations that make sense to me are 1) MIL trying to get Heat to include Larsson and Jakucionis 2) MIL owners (Haslam?) actually believe that Brown is a similar level player to Giannis
Trying is the operative word. If Riley budges he is the fool. Bucks have no leverage.
So could Greek
You forgot Kuzma.
and a young player on a rookie contract. Bucks could always throw in Portis and the Antetokounmpo brothers (Usay and Qusay) to extract more players.
jb overrated really?bam ?
Brown is a volume scorer and not a great shooter or defender. Boston has been better with Brown not playing each of the last 4 years. Brown has more accolades, Bam is the better player
bams a better player.ok mr adebayo or his r u his agent
Just someone who watches both ends of the floor, and tries to ignore media/PR hype. Some players have better PR than others, for whatever reason Brown has great PR. Didn’t matter vs PHI in Round 1
if bams on boston last year dont even think they make playoffs statman.jb was the mvp of the league
A Boston team that lost to PHI because they had no playable bigs other than Queta, and you think Bam would not make them better … And JB wasn’t even the MVP of his own team, you have to watch the defensive side of the ball. He scored 29 ppg because he led the league in FGA. And said it was his favorite season of his career after losing in Rd 1
Around the 4th turn we go…Boston coming on strong with star power !
May the best horse(sense) win.
Windy says Brown is on the table. Going to be a photo-finish.
If I’m Milwaukee I’d take that deal and won’t think twice about it.
No brown isn’t Giannis but I won’t sit up here and act like he didn’t carry the Celtics and was a mvp candidate
To me it’d be a strange deal for the Bucks to accept. If they truly want to rebuild, is getting a 29 year old star for a 31 year old MVP really the way to work it?
I’m more than fine if this fails, and Miami doesn’t get Giannis. It’s my preference, I just don’t understand all the speculation that it’s a great trade for the Bucks, unless they have something lined up beyond that.
If they are truly looking for draft compensation and young players, it seems easy to think Miami’s offer is better than Boston, but maybe we over-rate Jaquez, Ware, Kaspar and Pelle.
And if they are looking to really compete, the Celtics have more talent than the Bucks, so if it’s picks and Brown for the Bucks, and they hold Brown, what’s the goal? The 8 seed like Miami so often targets?
Agree it’s strange but most assume they flip him, possibly to the Blazers, for their picks back for Dame. Brown does not want to be in Milwaukee or Portland, so it’s risky for those teams to have a disgruntled player immediately upon arrival.
Shams is saying if JB is traded for Giannis, he’s staying with the Bucks FWIW.
That would be terrible. They dont have a team structure to support him.
Why they would do that.
Just like Miami won’t if it gives away its young players and future draft picks.
Celtics in the same boat as us looking for a 3rd team too offload jb. I don’t doubt what shams saying but jb definitely ain’t staying with the bucks, like vagi said there structure doesn’t support him good enough. Also he genuinely doesn’t want to be there like qbn said. Also holding on jb would be dumb for them, especially when most of them want young players and pics supposedly. They need to rebuild not fight for the play -in yearly like us. With all that being said if we don’t get giannis, I wouldn’t mind our heat being the 3rd team that celtics offload jb too.
As I said earlier, Miami holding the cards. Time to sit back and wait. Not time to panic and outbid itself.
Celtics were written off before the season with Tatum out. They didn’t end up where projected because of Brown.
Totally agree. 56 wins. He put that team on his shoulders. Giannis is better, but Brown is a very good player.
I’d take a hard pass. We were lucky to get him out of here. Don’t we ever learn? When you give out bloated contracts, the only way you get rid of certain players is getting others back just like them.
Even not in case sending Herro and one of Kas,/Jovic/JJJ/ Pelle/Goldin for Dunc and somebody of a different kind? Its two for one.
Say what?
I understand the negative response. Sorry for my honesty. I liked Duncan so much as a Heat player and I think he has done great with the Pistons. He just got paid a little too well, which makes him hard to move, but more power to him for that.
That contract is on the wall of shame with Lowry and the gummy chewers.
Josh Mcglass and a gambler should be there too.
McBob. What could have been.
My reach would be this. Spurs front line is unimpressive with no physical bigs & Wemby needing help so why not entertain Bam to Spurs for Harper plus whatever else? Unfortunately…think Bucks are just waiting for any late suitors then will accept Heat offer. Boston still possible but Bucks whole situation is a complete makeover.
San Antonio would probably trade Castle before Harper, maybe?
But either way they’re saying no, and Miami is saying no too.
Problem is Bucks owners want to wipe out all their poor personnel decisions since they won championship in one fell swoop.
They want to fast track the team into contender status and want Miami to pay for it with young players and draft picks. They want to gut the Heat by demanding a king’s ransom. F*** em!
The problem is they aren’t in the driver’s seat. Giannis is. If they try to trade him where he doesn’t want to go, he just won’t agree to an extension and Miami will be able to pick him up next summer as a free agent without sacrificing the team’s future.
I don’t see any problem in giving up any and every asset we have. They can include every available pick and pick swap for the next 10 years. They can include Kas AND Pelle for all I care. I know we’ll be just fine because I am a graduate of The Antoine Walker School Of Financial Success.
I’m impressed by your observations as I’m sure many of our fellow fans are. How can we lose?
Everything you say is true. But, the Heat’s reported offer, with Jovic, is a little inadequate. If I was a GM I wouldn’t want Jovic and his contract. Yes, there is a tiny chance, say 10%, that after four years he finds his mojo. But, it’s a low percentage chance and then his contract is three years of almost complete immovability.
Rather do bam to clippers for the number 5 and second round pick this year 27’ and 29’ first round draft picks.
Gives you 5 13 36 41 this year four chances to get a player or two if we play our cards right
Trade Herro to whoever is willing to take him
Build around your youth Ala spurs and okc and unretire number 23 to show that you’re a foward thinking franchise not one constantly stuck in the past
Then it makes no sense to keep players like Mitchell, Wiggins and Powell.
More like a hot mess. Their owner(s) have made terrible decisions over past few years and they/their fans are paying for it.
Time for them to take their lumps and start over. If they pass on Miami’s offer, they will have nobody to blame but themselves …again.
Love it SunMan! Getting Stewart & drafting Johnson would be nasty!
Thanks. Just trying to interject a little logic in the middle of a feeding frenzy.
PLAN C IF GIANNIS TRADE AND PLAN B DON’T OCCUR BY DRAFT DAY
Miami gets:
Isaiah Stewart ($15M), Duncan Robinson ($16M), (2) 2027 2nd Rd Picks
Detroit gets:
Tyler Herro ($33M)
Miami drafts #13:
Yaxel Lendeborg or LeBaron Philon or Cameron Carr or Morez Johnson
Miami drafts #41:
Baba Miller or Zuby Ejiofor or Trevon Brazile or Nick Martinelli
Wiggins opts in*
2026-2027 team to start the season (more or less):
Mitchell, Larsson, Wiggins*, Bam, Ware
Jakucionis, Robinson, #13 pick, Jaquez, Stewart
Smith, Gardner, Johnson, Jovic, #41 pick
_________________________________________________________________________
Miami’s younger players (e.g., Ware, Jaquez, Larsson, Jakucionis, Jovic, Johnson, Gardner, #13 pick and #41 pick) would be able to acquire another year of skill development and experience . Together with Bam, Mitchell, Wiggins, Stewart and Smith the team would also have a solid veteran core.
_________________________________________________________________________
* If Wiggins opts out, Norman Powell may be willing to sign a short term, team friendly extension.
If Powell does not agree to an extension, DeMar DeRozan has a $25.7M contract with Sacto in 2026-2027 (only $10M is guaranteed). There is speculation Sacto will pay the veteran wing player $10M and release him to save $15.7M and to provide DeMar a chance to catch on with a contending team. Miami’s Non-Taxpayer MLE is worth $15.1M. He would be great coming off the bench (or starting, as needed) and as a veteran presence on the team. If he meshes with the team and is playing well during the season, Riley could possibly negotiate a short-term, team friendly extension with him.
_________________________________________________________________________
If Miami does not make the playoffs in 2026-2027, it would receive another lottery pick next summer and have one or more 2nd Rd pick(s) via Detroit. The Heat would be in a very good position to draft a top prospect and explore trades and free agent signings at that time. Several top NBA players are projected to be free agents in 2027.
I’d welcome him back. Knowing now his family turmoil, trauma, & tragedy he went through basically his whole time with the Heat…he’s one tough dude. Yeah sure …bring along Stewart too!
Roughly 38 hours until Miami is on the clock. Gonna be interesting regardless of outcome.
Everyone getting ready to see Giannis’s brothers bouncing up & down the sidelines cheerleading with smack against the opposing players who are playing when they are not ever playing? Eric & Crotty will commenting how quick & athletic they look tonight. Talk about not wanting to watch something…
Keep the faith. We can always follow the Miami Heat North (Milwaukee edition) and watch our boys as they develop.
Buy 3 get 1?
That’s ridiculous. Right off the bat Heat management going to kiss his behind. If he gets special treatment like Butler did, does it extend to his brother(s) as well. That’s some serious b.s.
We can bring back Zoran. He’s available.
I saw the headline and though this article was about Jason Kapono
I thought Winslow.
that’s the greatest point guard in Heat history
Uncan’s salary is not fully guaranteed. He has market value. Herro will be gone one way or another I would take Stewart and Uncan, plus a 2nd rounder (or two).