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Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Detroit Pistons add ex-Michigan basketball marksman Duncan Robinson
The Detroit Pistons have turned to another former Michigan basketball guard to address their need for shooting. The Pistons agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat on Tuesday, July 1, acquiring Duncan Robinson, who will sign a three-year, $48 million deal according to ESPN. In return, they're sending forward Simone Fontecchio to the Heat. Advertisement The move comes after the Pistons agreed to a two-year, $29 million deal with former Michigan standout Caris LeVert on June 30. WELCOME HOME: Caris LeVert was star at Michigan before NBA: 6 things to know about new Detroit Piston Robinson, a 6-foot-7 wing, was an unrestricted free agent after posting 11 points and 2.4 assists on 43.7% shooting last season, hitting 39.3% on 3-pointers. That was slightly below his career 3-point average of 39.7%, achieved while averaging 11.3 points a game over his seven-year career with the Heat. His college career started at Division III Williams College before transferring to Michigan prior to his sophomore season. With the Wolverines, Robinson appeared in 115 games over three seasons, becoming a key part of the Wolverines' run to the 2018 national championship game in his final year with U-M. Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson (55) drives to the basket past Detroit Pistons forward Tim Hardaway Jr. (8) during the first quarter at Kaseya Center in Miami on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Robinson averaged 9.3 points a game while hitting at a 41.9% clip from 3 during his Division I career but went undrafted. After the draft, he signed a two-way contract with the Heat. Advertisement The Pistons desperately needed outside spacing after being forced to move on from unrestricted free agent Malik Beasley, who is in the midst of a federal probe due to gambling allegations. Submit a letter to the editor at and we may publish it online or in print. Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress). This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons get Duncan Robinson to help shooting
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What does Duncan Robinson bring to Detroit?
The Lakers appear to have their starting center. Meanwhile, the Knicks are nearing a deal for Tom Thibodeau's replacement. Ezra Shaw / Getty Images C. Morgan Engel / Getty Images Duncan Robinson will immediately become the Pistons' best 3-point shooter when he joins the team. He's a career 39.7 percent on 7.2 attempts from behind the arc per game and has made at least 185 triples in five of his seven seasons in the NBA. The 31-year-old is a proven threat from long range and will likely join his former Michigan teammate, Caris LeVert, in becoming Detroit's primary second-unit scorers. With the departure of Tim Hardaway Jr., who is heading to the Denver Nuggets, Robinson becomes even more valuable for a Pistons team still in need of more shooting and spacing on the floor around Cade Cunningham. Robinson also has 70 playoff games under his belt and should provide a valuable perspective in the locker room. One of Robinson's best on-court assets is his ability to shoot on the move. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra ran a healthy diet of off-ball action to get Robinson opening 3-point looks coming off screens. Because Robinson is accustomed to defenders staying attached to him off the ball, he's developed as a cutter as well. Although the sample size was small, Robinson shot 15 of 19 on cutting layups last season, when he averaged 11 points on 43.7 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent shooting from 3, 2.4 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game. Naz Reid agrees to re-sign with Timberwolves (Five years, $125 million) Reid's deal factors into the quest for continuity mentioned above. Reid is a phenomenal story, from going undrafted to carving out a great role for himself in Minnesota to winning Sixth Man of the Year two seasons ago to now a nine-figure contract. For $25 million per season, his type of role and production will justify that kind of money, as long as he stays healthy. It will be interesting to see if his role ever evolves during this deal. Maybe Julius Randle or Rudy Gobert are moved at some point, and Reid moves into the starting lineup. He still has a lot to do to become a solid defender, but he's had some moments. The Wolves not losing Reid likely cost them Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but they feel they have the young depth to make up for that. Grade: B+ The Detroit Pistons are adding Duncan Robinson on a three-year, $48 million deal, with the last two years non-guaranteed, according to a league source. Robinson is heading to Detroit as part of a sign-and-trade with the Miami Heat involving Simone Fontecchio. Robinson's 1,202 3-pointers are the most in Heat franchise history. As our noble compatriot, Jared Weiss, pointed out, the Boston Celtics will still be over the second apron with the impending signing of Josh Minott. But a reminder, whether it's about the Celtics or any other team that might be straddling the second apron: A team is not officially over the second apron until the end of the last day of the regular season. So for apron purposes, and tax payment purposes, this is not the end of the line, though it does make some things harder to do in the interim. It wouldn't be surprising to see the Celtics get below that threshold, because why only go over by a little bit if you don't have to? They still have the rest of this summer and through the trade deadline to do so. The Celtics will have to make another move at some point to get back below the second apron after agreeing to terms with Josh Minott. This fills their roster at 15, and they still are hoping Al Horford comes back, so they'll need to do more than just waive JD Davison to make that all work. Whether it's dealing Anfernee Simons to try to dive all the way back under the tax line or dumping Sam Hauser and/or Geroges Niang into an exception, Boston has more work to do. The Boston Celtics will sign forward Josh Minott to a two-year, $5 million contract, a league source confirmed. The 22-year-old became a free agent after the Timberwolves declined to pick up his team option. Depth was one of the bigger issues for Denver last season. Here's their current projected rotation: Starters: Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokić Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokić Bench: Bruce Brown, Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, DaRon Holmes, Jonas Valančiūnas, Tim Hardaway Jr. Denver is making a couple of bets here on Valančiūnas and Brown, but I like what it has done so far. Between adding Hardaway, Johnson and Brown, that should help the Nuggets' need for ballhandling and shooting The LA Clippers plan to waive center Drew Eubanks, a league source said. LA will clear Eubanks' non-guaranteed $4.75 million salary off its books to provide more relief from the first apron and open a roster spot that was always expected to be open. I mentioned the possibility of Eubanks being waived overnight in my latest story discussing the Clippers' next potential maneuvers. We can't rule a trade out, but this decreases the likelihood of one for now. Jake LaRavia agrees to sign with Lakers (Two years, $12 million) LaRavia is a solid pickup for the Lakers after they lost Dorian Finney-Smith to Houston. After struggling to shoot the 3-pointer in Memphis his first two seasons, he shot it extremely well last year. The Lakers are praying that it will continue in his new home. The confusing part for me is our Dan Woike saying this was their top wing target after Finney-Smith was off the board. He's solid, but he can't be that high on your board. Grade: C+ Lon Horwedel / Imagn The Denver Nuggets have agreed to a one-year, veteran's minimum contract with free-agent guard Tim Hardaway Jr., a league source said. Hardaway, 33, averaged 11 points per game for Detroit last season while starting 77 contests. It's shocking the Nuggets can get a guy of Hardaway's caliber on that contract, but the market is drying up, so the Nuggets got a bit fortunate. Caris LeVert agrees to sign with Pistons (Two years, $29 million) The Malik Beasley investigation likely opened up this opportunity for LeVert with the Pistons. If that's the case, I'm not sure I love this pivot. LeVert is a fine scorer to bring off the bench, but he's been a below-average 3-point shooter for most of his career. He can handle the ball, but the Pistons needed more of a 3-and-D guy. You need pure shooters around Cade Cunningham, not someone to dribble a lot. Grade: C+ Stacy Revere / Getty Images The Milwaukee Bucks plan to sign veteran shooting guard Gary Harris to a two-year contract with a player option, and have agreed to a trade to send guard Pat Connaughton to the Charlotte Hornets, a league source confirmed to The Athletic. The Bucks will trade Connaughton and two future second-round picks to Charlotte for Vasa Mičić. In turn, the Bucks will likely try to work with Mičić on a buyout that allows them to create the necessary space to fit Myles Turner in Milwaukee and lets Mičić make his way back to professional basketball in Europe. Dorian Finney-Smith agrees to deal with Rockets (Four years, $53 million) This might be my favorite signing of Day 1. The Rockets gave up a good defender in Dillon Brooks to complete the Kevin Durant trade, but I'd argue Finney-Smith is a much better fit for this team. He can guard two through four and a lot of point guards as well. He's mostly been a league-average 3-point shooter or better in his career. He doesn't try to do too much with the ball, so you're not going to get those random acts of dribbling that look like it's a football. Finney-Smith also defends without taking away from the team in the form of trying to instigate. When it worked for Brooks, it got opponents out of their game. But when it didn't work, it caused the Rockets to crumble a bit. Finney-Smith is just solid at all times. For this kind of money and a four-year commitment, it's a perfect signing for the Rockets. Grade: A+ Jaren Jackson Jr. agrees to extension with Grizzlies (Five years, $240 million) The Grizzlies painted themselves into a corner with this extension, and it's not even necessarily a bad call. They have to do it, and he may end up being worth that kind of money. Nearly $50 million a year is huge. It doesn't even matter that he's not an elite shot blocker the last two years, because he's still an elite defender. He's getting stops in other ways. He's also improved his scoring to being a consistent 22-point-per-game scorer the last two seasons and brought his efficiency back up with a healthy 2024-25 campaign. Jackson isn't a good rebounder, and he's not a playmaker for others. If he can flesh out both of those skill sets, then it makes the max extension super easy to justify. And he may justify it anyway. The Grizzlies definitely build their defense around him, as long as he's not in foul trouble. You just can't miss at all when handing out these big contracts, and there's a non-zero chance of a miss here. Still, not a bad move for Memphis. Just not a home run. Grade: B+ Jakob Poeltl's extension is interesting. The Raptors likely will win by locking down his player option year at $19.5 million, but after that, things have the potential to get ugly fast. Based on the reported $104 million total, the Raptors are committed to $29.5 million in his age-33 season and a partially guaranteed $29.5 million at age 34. And this money is for a non-shooter who can't rely on skill to offset Father Time. While it clearly helps the Raptors manage their 2026-27 tax and apron situation, I'm not sure the downside is worth it. Nickeil Alexander-Walker to the Atlanta Hawks (Four years, $62 million) The Hawks are giving up a second-rounder and cash in the trade. The new Wolves owners keep adding to the till! For the Hawks, Alexander-Walker potentially gives them a playmaking wing who can knock down 3-pointers and provide a defensive punch on the wings. This has the chance to help put them further in a position to make a leap in the East. He pairs nicely with Dyson Daniels, and he can help take some of the initiation responsibilities from Trae Young to move him off the ball more. It looks like the fourth year will have a player option, so it might not be a straight-up four-year deal for Alexander-Walker. The last three seasons, he's shot 38.5 percent from deep, so the shot should be more than reliable moving forward. Grade: A- Page 2
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pistons Acquire Sharpshooter From Heat in Offseason Deal
Pistons Acquire Sharpshooter From Heat in Offseason Deal originally appeared on Athlon Sports. NBA free agency has been full of deals since it began on Monday night as teams around the league try to upgrade their roster with hopes of winning a championship next season. Advertisement Among those teams are the Detroit Pistons who are coming off an incredible season that saw them go from being the worst team in the NBA to making the playoffs as the sixth seed in the East. Unfortunately for Detroit, it has not been the best start to free agency for them as they have already lost two key players to other teams. Dennis Schroder signed a deal with the Sacramento Kings while Tim Hardaway Jr. agreed to sign with the Denver Nuggets. Nov 8, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga (00) defends Cleveland Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert (3) in the first quarter at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. © David Richard-Imagn Images Despite losing these players, Detroit did re-sign Paul Reed and they also brought in Caris LeVert through free agency. On Tuesday, the Pistons made another move with the Miami Heat to land another sharpshooting guard. Advertisement According to ESPN's Shams Charania, Duncan Robinson has agreed to a three-year, $48 million deal with the Pistons and Detroit is sending Simone Fontecchio to Miami in a sign-and-trade deal for Robinson. This is a solid move by the Pistons as they add another sharpshooter to their second unit after losing Hardaway Jr. earlier on Tuesday. Last season, Robinson averaged 11.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while shooting 43.7% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range. The 31-year-old guard has spent the entirety of his seven-year NBA career with the Heat but that will change entering next season as he joins an up-and-coming Pistons team. Nov 15, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Miami Heat forward Duncan Robinson (55) shoots the ball while Indiana Pacers guard Ben Sheppard (26) defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse© Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images Robinson is a great scorer and will also give the Pistons a much-needed three-point shooter off the bench. Advertisement With the addition of both him and LeVert, it is clear that Detroit is trying to add as much depth to their roster as possible this summer as they try to take advantage of a weakened East next season. This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
NBA free agency has been good for the middle class, and more Day 1 thoughts
Shew. NBA free agency has been underway for less than 24 hours, and already a cascade of deals has cleaned out the market. Of my top 25 free agents, only eight remain on the market, and one of them (Malik Beasley) is in that situation for non-basketball reasons. I've already opined on several of the Day 1 moves on our running blog, but the thing about focusing on single transactions is that sometimes you miss the big picture. Advertisement So taking a step back from the fray, exhaling, and looking out over the landscape from a busy day of transactions, here are three big thoughts that hit me: The big fear among a certain class of players was that the 2025 free-agent market would be a repeat of 2024's. Last season saw several players in the league's middle-class get squeezed as teams seemed unusually reluctant to part with exception money; even good players coming off solid years like Tyus Jones and Gary Trent Jr. had to settle for minimum deals, while the multi-year money that found players such as Caleb Martin still shorted their perceived value. This year, not so much. We are not even technically in the first official day of free agency on the West Coast as I write this, and already eight players have received some or all of the nontaxpayer midlevel exception (NTMLE) from eight different teams — Dorian Finney-Smith, Brook Lopez, Kevon Looney, Luke Kennard, Luke Kornet, Jake LaRavia, Caris LeVert and Tyus Jones. That list doesn't include Ty Jerome's room exception deal with the Memphis Grizzlies, or D'Angelo Russell's taxpayer exception deal with the Dallas Mavericks, or the several other MLE-caliber candidates left in the market and still being pursued by teams with this exception; Chris Paul, Al Horford, Deandre Ayton, Duncan Robinson, Guerschon Yabusele, Trey Lyles and Beasley, among others, remain unsigned. Moreover, in a market where only one team (the Brooklyn Nets) actually had cap room and had little intention of using it on free agents, somehow seven different free agents have already received more than the NTMLE: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Santi Aldama, James Harden, Julius Randle, Naz Reid, Fred VanVleet and Kyrie Irving. It seems highly possible that Myles Turner, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, Cam Thomas and Josh Giddey will take that total into double figures. Advertisement All of this alleviates a huge fear among agents repping the middle class: that teams would use their exception money mostly as trade exceptions for in-season moves — a new feature of the 2023 collective-bargaining agreement — and not bother so much with this tier of the free-agent market. While a few of these moves may retroactively turn into sign-and-trades to take advantage of the new rules, that hasn't been the driving logic. Teams are out there spending to get rotation-caliber talent. For that, I suspect we can partially thank the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. They showed in the playoffs what quality depth can do for a contender or even quasi-contender in the postseason. In today's 'weak link' NBA game, having eight good players can pretty easily swamp a team with the traditional top-heavy model of two or three max-contract superstars surrounded by some guys from the Y. In the past week, the Houston Rockets signed Steven Adams to a three-year, $39 million extension … and signed Jabari Smith Jr. to a five-year, $122 million extension … and traded for Kevin Durant, who makes $54.7 million this year and likely will want an extension of his won … and signed Dorian Finney-Smith for four years and $63 million … and added Clint Capela at three years and $21 million. Did I mention they still have All-Star Alperen Şengün entering the first season of a five-year, $185 million extension? Or that Jeff Green is back again on a minimum deal? Or that none of the people I just named are guards or wings? In particular, I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work at the center spot with Şengün, Adams and Capela. Which one of them is OK not playing? Yes, I know the Rockets leaned into some lineups with Şengün and Adams on the court together late last season, but this can easily go the other way too. The Rockets may not stay traditionally big all game, especially given how effective Finney-Smith has been as a small-ball five in his stops with the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn. Meanwhile, the power forward situation seems just as jammed. Durant is a four in today's game but may be pushed down to the three by the presence of Smith and Finney-Smith, not to mention the minutes that Şengün may spend there. Advertisement I haven't even mentioned Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, the tag-team chaos agents who both seem best suited to playing the four, even if they're listed as small forwards on the depth chart. Even excluding those last two, Houston has seven players making a combined $136 million — that's about 87% of the salary cap — in its frontcourt for this season, with Smith's extension set to increase that by roughly $10 million a year from now. (Durant's number in an extension may change this.) Meanwhile, the Rockets have three guards on the roster, only one of whom (Fred VanVleet) was a full-time rotation player a year ago. The others are Aaron Holiday, returning on a minimum deal, and Reed Sheppard, the 2024 No. 3 pick who hardly got off the bench last season. Thompson is the starting 'shooting guard,' I guess, because nobody who truly plays this position is on Houston's roster at the moment. So … what's the endgame here? Another trade? A season-long experiment in bruiserball? Houston has the draft picks, matching contracts and young talent to go in a lot of different directions in the trade market, even after all these deals. But in the wake of the trade of Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks for Durant, the lack of a true wing on the roster of a win-now contender is glaring. The underlying question that will impact a few select teams as they tiptoe into the free-agent and trade markets: How much powder should they keep dry in case Giannis Antetokounmpo pushes his way out of Milwaukee? That's something for a team like Houston to ponder, but the Rockets are hardly the only ones. For instance, it's fair to wonder if part of the Lakers' reticence to push in harder around their current roster is because they think they can be a landing spot for the Bucks' superstar if he demands a ticket out of Milwaukee. Ditto for teams like the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors that, for differing reasons, see themselves as possible destinations for the Greek Freak. You'll notice all these teams are off to relatively quiet starts thus far in free agency. Ironically, however, the team that may have done the best job positioning itself may also be the one that has been the most active. You might notice that amidst all of the Atlanta Hawks' wheeling and dealing, they now own a potential Bucks' draft pick in both 2026 and 2027, and thus would hold the key to the Bucks being able to tank their way back into contention post-Giannis. Advertisement In particular, the Bucks own the least favorable of their own or the New Orleans Pelicans' 2026 pick, while the Hawks own the most favorable; trading with Atlanta would give them access to both (Milwaukee would likely try to circle the Portland Trail Blazers into any deal as well, since the Blazers own two swaps and one pick from 2028 to 2030). The Hawks can trade two picks and two swaps on top of that, and have a young star forward making $30 million (Jalen Johnson) who can serve as the core of a salary match. Fanciful stuff from a non-coastal market? (Georgia is on the Atlantic Ocean, but the ATL is four hours from the drink). Perhaps. Antetokounmpo can put his finger on the scale and effectively veto some destinations, and the others I mentioned are all more glamorous. But while you contemplate the usual suspects for a Giannis run, don't forget about the Hawks. Because their quiver of assets includes that Bucks' pick, they're at least in the game. (Photo of Alperen Şengün and Tari Eason: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Reuters
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Pistons reportedly land G Caris LeVert for 2 years, $29M
July 1 - Caris LeVert, a former collegiate star at Michigan, reportedly is heading back to the Great Lakes State. The 30-year-old guard agreed to a two-year, $29 million deal with the Detroit Pistons, multiple media outlets reported on Monday. LeVert could take the place of free agent wing Malik Beasley, who reportedly is the subject of a federal investigation into gambling irregularities. According to the Detroit Free Press, the Pistons tabled a potential three-year, $42 million offer for Beasley due to the probe. LeVert split last season between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks, averaging a combined 12.1 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. After playing for Michigan from 2012-13 to 2015-16, LeVert was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 20th overall pick in the 2016 draft but was immediately traded to the Nets. He spent four-plus seasons in Brooklyn before returning to play parts of two seasons for Indiana. LeVert played 3 1/2 seasons in Cleveland. In 524 career NBA games (223 starts), he has averages of 13.9 points, 4.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds. --Field Level Media
