Duncan Robinson has played a huge role for the Miami Heat on their road to the NBA Finals, and it seems like even he never could have seen that coming.
Robinson, whose journey to the NBA is one of the best storylines of the postseason, played college basketball at Michigan after transferring there from Division III Williams in 2014. When he was a senior with the Wolverines during the 2017-18 season, the sharpshooter thought it would be wise to start thinking about life after basketball.
On Sunday, college basketball writer and podcaster Mark Titus, a former walk-on at Ohio State, shared a screenshot of some awesome messages he received from Robinson three years ago. Titus was working for The Ringer at the time, and Robinson was interested in sports media as a career. He reached out to Titus to pick his brain as part of a class assignment.
Got this text out of the blue 3 years ago. Hopped on the phone a couple days later and talked for an hour about getting into sports media because he thought his basketball career was winding down.
Three years later he's about to start in the NBA Finals. What a world. pic.twitter.com/egSweR0DWk
— Mark Titus (@clubtrillion) September 28, 2020
It’s a good thing Robinson stuck with playing.
Robinson went undrafted in 2018 and then signed a Summer League contract with the Heat. He has since worked his way up to the NBA roster and proven his worth. In a November game this season, Robinson set Heat records with seven three-pointers made in a quarter and eight in a half. He also tied a Heat record with 10 three-pointers in a game on Dec. 10, scoring a career high 34 points. Even in a season that was shortened by the coronavirus, Robinson shattered the Heat’s single-season record for three-pointers made with 270 this year.
Robinson has scored 20 or more points in multiple games during the postseason. He may not be commanding as much of the spotlight as one of his teammates, but the Heat are certainly glad he didn’t give up and try to find a job in sports media. Robinson will have plenty of time for that after he’s done raining three-pointers.
