In every season except for his rookie campaign, Miami Heat sharpshooter Duncan Robinson has helped his team reach the playoffs.
But that hasn’t always resulted in a consistent playoff role for the 30-year-old, whose playing time is often flimsy when the postseason arrives.
One NBA scout described that as a big mystery.
“I always wonder why, when playoff time comes, it’s the biggest mystery to me. Robinson doesn’t see the floor,” the scout told Sports Illustrated‘s Anthony Pasciolla. “I know defensively he struggled, but when they made the Finals run two years ago, he improved his game. I think he improved his game more than Bam [Adebayo]. It was glaring. They’re paying him a lot of money.”
In his sophomore NBA season, Robinson had a major hand in the Heat’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals. He appeared in 21 games during the playoffs in the bubble and started all of them, averaging 28.6 minutes per contest.
The following season, he had a solid playoff role once again, averaging 25.0 minutes per game across four appearances (all starts) in the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
But in the next campaign, Robinson’s playoff role looked much different. He saw action but didn’t get any starts, averaging just 12.2 minutes per game in the process.
The Heat trusted him enough to give him 23 appearances, one start and 18.2 minutes per game in the 2023 NBA Playoffs as they reached the NBA Finals, but he was back to a smaller role in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, averaging just 12.0 minutes per game in a bench role.
Over the last three seasons, Robinson has started 105 regular-season games but just one playoff game, a possible indication that the Heat trust him more in the regular season than they do in the playoffs.
As recently as the 2022-23 regular season, Robinson was struggling so much that his place with the Heat was being questioned by some fans, but he made the most of his opportunities in the 2023 NBA Playoffs and parlayed that into a strong 2023-24 regular season.
Given those factors, his small role in the 2024 NBA Playoffs appeared to mark a step in the wrong direction, though it’s worth noting that he seemingly played through a back injury in the postseason, which might have impacted his role.
It’s a safe bet that the wing will look to earn a key role in both the regular season and playoffs in the 2024-25 campaign.
