Duncan Robinson Reportedly Exercises $20M ETO, Heat Will Talk New Contract or Trade

Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson reportedly is exercising his early termination option, per ESPN's Shams Charania, and will become a free agent after bypassing his $19.9 partially guaranteed salary for the 2025-26 season.

Per Charania, "The decision allows Robinson to work on a longer-term deal with the Heat—or pursue free-agent contracts and sign-and-trades elsewhere starting Monday night." ESPN's Bobby Marks noted that Robinson's bird rights are still with the Heat following his decision.

Robinson has spent his entire career with the Heat up to this point. He is one of their developmental success stories after being signed as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan in 2018.

The Heat had Robinson spend most of his rookie season in the G League. His first full season in the NBA in 2019-20 was tremendously successful. He averaged 13.5 points per game on 44.6 percent three-point shooting in 73 appearances.

During Miami's playoff run to the NBA Finals, Robinson shot 39.7 percent from behind the arc on 7.4 attempts per game. His seven made threes in the Heat's 111-108 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 is tied for the third-most ever in a Finals game.

Robinson remained a staple of Miami's lineup over the next five seasons. He signed the richest contract in NBA history for an undrafted player when the Heat gave him a five-year, $90 million extension in August 2021.

The Heat have taken advantage of Robinson's shooting ability over the past seven seasons. He has averaged 7.2 attempts behind the arc per game with a 39.7 percent success rate since 2018-19.

Robinson's career three-point percentage ranks in the top 60 in NBA history. He's a one-dimensional player, but that one dimension is something every team wants in this era of basketball.

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra explained in March that Robinson's ability to "tilt the defense" is something they value highly:

"I know there’s analytics to it now, but there’s players where you just know they tilt the defense differently, shooters, the catch-and-shoot guys, the guys that come off screens. Duncan is one of these guys. He just is. That’s the reality. You can run those actions for other players and it’s not going to create quite the same reactions, and that’s from years or reputation of being deadly coming off screens."

The Heat are entering a different phase compared to the team that has been in the Eastern Conference Finals three times in the previous six seasons, with two NBA Finals appearances during that period.

Trading Jimmy Butler seemed to signal that Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro will be the leaders of the organization going forward. This summer will be crucial for figuring out who the key players around that duo are going to be.

Robinson could end up being a prime trade candidate given his expiring salary, but he's also a key offensive weapon for a Heat team that doesn't have a lot of scorers to rely on coming off a disappointing 37-45 record last season.