Duncan Robinson was Team USA replacement option: ‘It looked like it was going to happen’
The Miami Heat already has one player, Bam Adebayo, preparing to represent Team USA in the Olympics. It turns out, the Heat almost had two players from its season-ending roster represent the United States in Tokyo.
Forward Duncan Robinson, who has become one of the NBA’s top three-point shooters during the past two seasons, revealed on this week’s episode of The Long Shot podcast that he was among the options considered to replace Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal on USA Basketball’s 12-man Olympic roster.
USA Basketball officials reached out to Robinson last week after Beal was forced to drop out of the Olympics because of health and safety protocols. Robinson was already on Team USA’s initial list of about 60 players for the Tokyo Olympics, which the team was built off of.
“I put you on a little bit of an emotional roller coaster, as I did with basically all my close friends and family,” Robinson said to his close friend and podcast co-host Davis Reid during this week’s episode. “The reports were somewhat true with everything that happened last week with Brad. I actually had nothing to do with Kevin Love’s spot. That was going to be filled by a big. But when Brad was kind of removed from the Olympics and it was clear that he was not going to go, they were obviously looking for a filler.”
Robinson said he was told by Team USA officials that he was being considered but “they were going to reach out to other guys first.”
“The other guys that they were going to reach out to were guys that already had the option to be on Team USA,” Robinson said. “So I felt pretty confident that they weren’t going to then turn around and say yes after already saying no. So I started to think, ‘Alright, well maybe there’s a chance that this happens.’ It basically got to the point where like it started to pick up some momentum and it looked like it was going to happen. It was kind of communicated as this, ‘We’ll know by the end of the day.’”
For Robinson, it then became about having his own decision ready. Would he accept an invite to join Team USA just days before the start of the Olympics?
Among the factors Robinson weighed were his impending free agency and the fact that playing in the Olympics would force him to miss one of his best friends’ wedding.
Robinson, 27, will be a free agent this summer, and that complicates matters because free agency opens during the Olympics on Aug. 2. And the Olympics also conflict with Reid’s wedding.
“Obviously, it’s incredible to go and play for your country,” Robinson said to Reid on the podcast. “It would have been an opportunity that I would have jumped at. But at the same time, I was going to be missing your wedding and it’s also right on the cusp of free agency and some other things. So it was a decision I at least needed to think about. So I called a bunch of people in my close circle, my family and my friends. I was kind of weighing some opinions of what people thought.”
But Robinson noted that “it quickly became clear that if I have the option to [play in the Olympics] then I’m going to do it.”
“I realized that having those conversations with those people created all this momentum within that group,” Robinson said. “In that all of a sudden everybody was reaching out to me. ‘Let me know when you know. I want to know when you know. This is so big. Oh my gosh, you might be Olympian.’”
But with two open spots on the Olympic roster after Cleveland Cavaliers forward Love also withdrew from Team USA, San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson and Denver Nuggets center JaVale McGee were selected as the two replacements. Team USA opens the Olympics on Sunday against France at 8 a.m.
“Nothing ever materialized,” said Robinson, who has spent the past few weeks training in Los Angeles. “But anyways, it was definitely a letdown to the point of then I had to have that conversation with every one of those individuals of ‘Yeah, they went a different direction. It’s not happening.’
“But in my mind, it was like a win-win. Now I get to go to one of my best friends’ wedding, be in the wedding, get to watch your special day, be a part of it. I get to really lock in for the end of this month leading into free agency, work on my body, work on my game and all those sorts of things. So I was good. I was at peace with it.”
Robinson, who has spent his first three NBA seasons with the Heat, is due for a sizable pay raise this summer as a free agent after playing on a $1.7 million salary this past season.
Robinson’s salary could top $15 million per season, as comparable players such as Brooklyn Nets sharpshooter Joe Harris signed a four-year, $75 million contract and Washington Wizards three-point specialist Davis Bertans signed a five-year, $80 million as free agents last offseason.
Since Robinson is set to become a restricted free agent, the Heat will have the right to match any offer Robinson receives from other teams as long as it extends a qualifying offer by the Aug. 1 deadline, as expected.
“It’s no secret that I’ve loved my time in Miami,” Robinson said of his impending free agency during this week’s episode of The Long Shot podcast. “I’d love to try to make something work with Miami. The reality is like, I tell this to my family, I don’t know how the next whatever 10-plus days, two weeks, how it’s going to play out.
“I just want to take all information as it comes. When the time comes to actually evaluate and make a decision, be meticulous and deliberate about what actually is going to be best for me.”
