The Miami Heat made a ton of noise this offseason. They were able to add new players to their roster while also retaining the majority of their core from last season.
Despite this, there are always going to be those who criticize their moves. This year, Bleacher Report falls under that category – kind of.
Recently, they released an article titled “How Every NBA Team Can Trade Its Worst Contract.” In the article, they one, listed the worst contract on every team, and two, suggested a trade that the team could do to trade it.
For the Miami Heat, Bleacher Report listed Duncan Robinson as Miami’s worst contract. This is interesting seeing as the Heat just re-signed Robinson to a brand new extension.
This offseason, Miami signed Robinson to a five-year $90 million contract extension. This averages out to around $18 million per season.
The trade they suggested would send Robinson to the Indiana Pacers. In return, the Miami Heat would receive TJ Warren and Goga Bitadze.
This deal does not make sense for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, though, it makes zero sense because of how important Robinson is to the Miami offense.
Erik Spoelstra runs so many plays specifically designed for Robinson, that trading him would require them to change up their offensive gameplan completely.
Warren simply does not provide the floor spacing that Robinson does. He has turned himself into a solid three-point shooter in recent years, but he’s nowhere near the shooter that Robinson is.
The Indiana wing would actually be a great fit in Miami as a shot creator, but not at the expense of Robinson. That part is where this deal doesn’t make any sense.
As for Bitadze, the Heat have absolutely no need for him. They already have three solid centers on the roster, so why would they want to add another one who would take minutes away from Omer Yurtseven.
Trading Robinson, in general, is an absolutely terrible idea. Bleacher Report thinks up some great ideas sometimes, but this was not one of them.