Duncan Robinson and Stephen Curry: The Truth Behind the 'Equivalent' Praise

40% from 7.25 meters. 270 made three-pointers in a single season. Those numbers are enough to place Duncan Robinson on par with Stephen Curry — if you believe Max Strus. The former Miami Heat teammate, who played alongside Robinson from 2026 to 2026, just declared that the Detroit Pistons shooter 'can be compared to Curry.' A well-intentioned statement. But the data — what I have pursued for 42 years of watching professional basketball — tells a completely different story. Look at the numbers. Robinson shoots 40% from beyond the arc in his career — a respectable figure, enough to maintain his NBA status since 2026. In the 2026-20 season, he made 270 three-pointers for the Miami Heat, an impressive volume. But Curry? 42.2% for his career. That 2.2 percentage point gap is not just a number — it is the distance between an excellent shooter and a legend. I have watched enough games to know that playing time determines everything. Robinson averages 26.3 minutes per game; Curry gets 34.0. Nearly 8 minutes of difference per game — that is roughly 15-20 additional shot attempts per game for Curry, and an unbridgeable gap between a specialist role and a complete superstar. I found the truth behind this praise — and it is just a calculation. When you place Robinson in the same data percentile as Curry, the difference becomes obvious. 270 made threes in one season shows Robinson's peak volume, but 40% for his career still falls short of Curry's 42.2%. Every number I touch has a scar — and this scar belongs to a hasty comparison. The more interesting part lies in motivation. Strus is not just a former teammate — he is someone Robinson mentored within the Miami system. This praise carries the tone of gratitude, not objective analysis. I have seen too many such cases in my career: a player praising his mentor, and the media inflating it into a technical statement. Do not misunderstand — Robinson is an elite catch-and-shoot shooter, an indispensable piece in any team's spacing system. He has been earning a living by shooting since 2026, and that is not easy. But placing him on the same scale as Curry — who is being invited by the Golden State Warriors to determine his own new contract — is a distortion of data. Basketball is never empty; only our perspective is empty. And when we look through numbers instead of emotions, the picture becomes clear: Robinson is an excellent three-point specialist, but he is not Curry. And no one — including Strus — should be criticized for wanting to elevate his former teammate. But as analysts, we have a responsibility to put every compliment on the data scale. The chaos on the court always has a hidden order. Let that order — not praise — guide our evaluations.