Duncan Robinson’s game continues to grow for Heat, but he believes ‘my prime is still ahead’

After signing with the Miami Heat in 2018 as an undrafted free agent, three-point shooting forward Duncan Robinson earned a five-year contract worth $90 million from the Heat just three years later during the 2021 offseason. And with this summer marking the three-year anniversary of the signing of that big deal, Robinson’s game continues to evolve and grow.

That’s why Robinson, who turned 30 in April, was one of the 14 NBA players who received votes for this season’s Most Improved Player award. Among the panel of 99 media members who voted on the NBA’s awards for this regular season, Robinson came away with four third-place votes for the honor that went to Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey.

“I think from a public-facing standpoint, I improved,” Robinson said on exit interview day earlier this month after the Heat’s season came to an end in the first round of the playoffs.

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Part of Robinson’s resurgence this season simply stemmed from returning to a consistent role after going from a fixture in the Heat’s starting lineup to getting inconsistent playing time in the final months of the 2021-22 season and for essentially the entire 2022-23 season. He played 30 or more minutes in just two games during the 2022-23 regular season.

But Robinson again established himself as one of the Heat’s most important players this season, logging more than 30 minutes in 28 games this regular season. He also averaged 12.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game while shooting 45 percent from the field and 39.5 percent on seven three-point attempts per game in 68 appearances (36 starts) this regular season.

Among the 30 players around the league who averaged seven or more three-point attempts per game this regular season, Robinson finished with the ninth-best three-point percentage.

“I think the biggest thing, the area of improvement, was the mentality,” Robinson continued. “The culmination of a lot of work. People want to look at a year that you make a jump and point to the previous summer like all of a sudden this past summer I did all these things that I had never done before. I’m a very routine-oriented person. I basically did the same thing that I’ve always done. You make tweaks and adjustments throughout an offseason, of course. But I think the biggest thing was the mentality shift.”

Robinson’s elite NBA skill is three-point shooting and that part of his game was again impressive this season.

But what made this season different for Robinson is everything else he was able to do to complement his three-point shooting ability. Not only did Robinson average a career high in assists, he also made a career-high 72 shots from within the restricted area this regular season compared to just 12 makes from within the restricted area during the 2022-23 regular season.

“I think part of that comes with experience and part of that comes with maturity, being in this league for a little bit longer and confidence,” Robinson said of his mentality shift this season. “It’s huge, it’s compounding, you experience a little success doing something and it grows. I think that was really what it was, to be honest with you. The goal is to keep pushing it. Offseason, same sort of thing. Get healthy, but then keep building it and come back a better version of myself.”

Getting healthy will be Robinson’s top priority this offseason after a back injury limited him during the final six weeks of the season, as he missed nine of the Heat’s final 14 regular-season games because of what the team listed as left facet syndrome.

Robinson returned to play in each of the Heat’s five playoff games in the first round, but he was clearly not himself because of the lingering effects of the back injury. He totaled just 13 points and shot 3 of 13 (23.1 percent) from three-point range in the five-game series.

“There were a million different thoughts, theories about how to proceed, the best route, the best way to handle it,” Robinson said of the decision to play through pain in the playoffs. “I was just going to try to do whatever I could to be available. In hindsight, depending on how you take it or approach it, people can probably paint a picture of what I should have done, this, that or whatever. I certainly don’t have any regrets. I certainly feel like I would have had more regrets the other way if I didn’t try to be available.”

The good news for the Heat and Robinson: The expectation is rest will be enough to heal the back injury, and it’s not expected to linger into next season.

“The challenge with rest in an NBA season is you play every other night and that was ultimately it,” Robinson said. “I think a lot of guys in that locker room are this way, so I’m not trying to paint myself as some unique individual. But I didn’t want to rest, essentially. I wanted to try to give whatever I could to the team. Some days, it was more limiting than others and that’s just the nature of what I was going through. It was a learning experience in a lot of ways.”

Robinson is still learning and improving. Even after this season’s revival, he still feels like his best basketball is ahead of him.

“I just turned 30, which is crazy,” said Robinson, who has two seasons left on his current contract with the Heat. “But what might even be crazier is I still think I’m far from a finished product. Maybe a lot of people say that 28 to whatever is your prime, but I feel like my prime is still ahead of me.”