Miami Heat’s Duncan Robinson Serving as Inspiration to Undrafted and Two-Way Players
Los Angeles Lakers rookie Cole Swider has been electric so far in the Summer League.
He leads the Lakers in minutes played, free throw percentage and 3-point percentage. His inspiration?
Miami Heat shooting guard Duncan Robinson.
Swider had 21 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the 3-point line against the Charlotte Hornets. He mentioned how Robinson has paved the way for players like him.
“That’s why I got this opportunity to play with the Lakers,” Swider said in the postgame interview. “Because of guys like Duncan Robinson, like Joe Harris, like all these guys throughout the NBA that have proven that you need a shooter like that who you can run actions for.”
In addition to the physical and skill set similarities, Swider and Robinson are also alike in the way they entered the NBA. Both were undrafted players who earned a spot after signing a two-way contracts.
Robinson, who is on a five-year, $90-million contract, was the first Division III player to play in the NBA since former Lakers forward Devean George. Robinson ended up sustaining a position in Miami, setting many 3-point shooting records along the way.
Swider could follow Robinson's path. He is now 19 of 36 from 3-point range in the summer league.
Lakers assistant Jordan Ott, who is coaching the summer league team, stated Swider’s presence has drawn defenders and made it easier for fluidity and rotation on the offensive end.
“Even here in summer league, you can feel the scouting report on him is to get in his airspace,” Ott said. “Sometimes he’s getting fouled on some of those threes because that’s how close they are.”
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Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside The Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
