How Heat’s Duncan Robinson is helping new teammate Cole Swider as ‘great role model’

When Cole Swider signed a two-way deal with the Los Angeles Lakers last year, one of the first people he texted was fellow three-point sharpshooter Duncan Robinson.

“I hit him up and I said, ‘Hey, man. I just want to say thank you,’” Swider recalled. “Because [Lakers general manager] Rob Pelinka had mentioned he passed up on Duncan in the predraft process and he didn’t want to let that happen again. So that was part of the reason that I got the two-way. So I just texted Duncan and I said, ‘Thank you.’”

A year later, Swider and Robinson are Heat teammates.

Robinson, 29, is already one of the Heat’s biggest undrafted success stories, signing a two-way deal with Miami in the summer of 2018 and eventually earning a five-year contract worth $90 million from the Heat as a free agent in the summer of 2021. Along the way, Robinson established himself as the franchise leader for the most career three-pointers made by a Heat player with 825 through his first five NBA seasons.

Swider, 24, is simply hoping to make the Heat’s regular-season roster to have a chance at becoming the organization’s next big three-point shooting undrafted success story after signing an Exhibit 10 tryout contract with Miami in August. He was released by the Lakers this past offseason despite shooting an impressive 43.6 percent on 7.6 three-point attempts per game in 27 games for the Lakers’ G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, last season.

“Duncan has been a great role model to me,” said Swider, who went undrafted out of Syracuse in 2022 after beginning his college career at Villanova. “He’s obviously made it in this league. He’s made a lot of money in this league. He’s played in two NBA Finals and has gone on deep, deep playoff runs. So he’s been a great mentor to me and I’m going to keep picking his brain.”

While Swider and Robinson are at two different stages of their careers, their stories as undrafted prospects and skill sets as elite three-point shooters are weirdly similar.

Swider and Robinson are both shooters with size, with Swider listed at 6-foot-8 and Robinson listed at 6-foot-7.

Swider and Robinson both grew up in the New England area, with Swider from Rhode Island and Robinson from New Hampshire.

Swider and Robinson also both have their own podcasts, with Swider co-hosting the “The Cole Swider Show with Paddy Casey” and Robinson hosting the “The Long Shot with Duncan Robinson and Davis Reid.”

“I didn’t know that,” Robinson said with a smile when informed that Swider also has a podcast. “I love it. That’s awesome. Good stuff. I’ll have to tune in.”

Those similarities have helped Swider and Robinson build their relationship, with Robinson taking on a mentor role and Swider becoming the mentee.

“I don’t think it’s some great act,” Robinson said of taking Swider under his wing in recent weeks. “I think it’s part of being an older guy, part of having been through some things to be able to pay it forward. There were a lot of mentors to me in my time. So the least I can do is return the favor in some capacity.

“Cole is also from the area that I’m from and we know a lot of the same people. Of course, it’s the least I can do.”

What’s one piece of advice from Robinson that has stuck with Swider?

“Don’t get too high when you’re shooting well and don’t get too low when you’re not shooting well,” Swider said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of adversity in this league and in this organization, and being able to handle that is a really big deal for Duncan. He’s obviously been at the highest of highs, been out of the rotation in the playoffs and then fought his way back last year to help the team a lot.”

Robinson credits former Heat teammates such as Wayne Ellington, James Johnson and Ryan Anderson as those who helped him when he first arrived to the organization five years ago.

Robinson is now on the other side of that type of relationship as he enters his sixth NBA season.

“I just think that’s a great place for players when you get to a certain point,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have to be a veteran player. But I think it’s a beautiful place to be when you can start to give back to the game and to other people and inspire other people. Duncan is fully right in his prime right now. So he doesn’t just have to be a full-time mentor. But you can find such great joy in helping develop the next wave, giving back to the game.

“I encourage the guys to shift their minds after a certain amount of years and start to think of it like that. I think the league and your experience in this association can be so much more exponentially gratifying when it’s not just about you.”

Swider has made a strong first impression on the Heat in pursuit of a regular-season roster spot, with Heat center Bam Adebayo and Spoelstra complimenting his play during training camp last week.

Swider also totaled 27 points on 6-of-12 shooting from three-point range in Sunday’s Red, White and Pink intrasquad scrimmage. He followed up that performance by scoring 17 fourth-quarter points on 5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the Heat to a 113-109 comeback win over the Charlotte Hornets in Tuesday’s preseason opener at Kaseya Center.

“The thing I notice is he’s very detail-oriented and some would say kind of neurotic, and I say that endearingly, about his routine, his preparation, all that sort of stuff,” Robinson said of Swider, with the Heat playing its second of five preseason games on Friday against the Spurs in San Antonio (7:30 p.m., TNT). “That’s definitely something that sticks out.”

With the Heat’s 15-man roster currently only including 13 players, the expectation is Miami will add at least one player on a standard contract before the start of the regular season.

The Heat also can swap out any of its three two-way contract slots with another developmental player like Swider to keep him around for the regular season.

Swider’s play so far this preseason has him as one of the top candidates for the Heat’s open roster spots, but he’s making sure not to get ahead of himself.

“I mean, I’m not on a contract, still. You know what I mean? There’s nothing to be really excited about,” Swider said. “If you get to this level, you expect a certain level out of yourself. I think before, I might have gotten maybe ‘I’m going to make every shot now’ or gotten ahead of myself.

“I just want to keep on stacking one day at a time, keeping on trying to help myself and help this team get to a point where I’m in the rotation and helping this team win.”

That’s perspective that Robinson has helped instill in Swider.