1 contract every NBA team would want back
By Ian Levy
Miami Heat: Duncan Robinson
For most of the past two years, Duncan Robinson has been viewed as one of the worst contracts in the entire league. The Heat signed him to a five-year, $90 million contract in August of 2021, coming on the heels of two consecutive seasons of lights-out shooting for the former undrafted free agent. Across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, Robinson started 140 of 145 games hitting 42.7 percent of more than eight 3-point attempts per game.
The deal was a record for an undrafted free agent and came in the same summer the Heat signed Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler to a max extension. However, Duncan’s shooting percentages immediately declined, dropping under 38 percent in 2021-22 and to 32.8 percent this season when he saw his regular-season role dramatically reduced. Altogether, Robinson, who was signed to be an elite floor-spacer, has started just 69 of 164 possible games and made just 36.2 percent of his 3s in the first two years of this deal.
Robinson has played well in the NBA Finals, rebuilding some of his reputation, but the Heat will still be paying on this deal for three more years. Even if they’d been able to sign him for a five-year deal at a lower, non-record-breaking salary they’d have extra financial flexibility to keep tweaking their roster toward a title.