- 664 words
Updated May 1, 2026, 7:18 p.m. ET
Editor’s note: This story contains references to suicide and other sensitive matters. Reader discretion is advised.
On the day of Duncan Robinson’s most important game with the Detroit Pistons against the Orlando Magic in Game 6 of the NBA playoffs, NBA Today released a 10-minute, heartbreaking story on Duncan’s brother, Eli, who died by suicide on April 30, 2025.
The video, which describes Eli’s four-year battle with schizophrenia and addiction, including 16 psychiatric hospitalizations, will be rebroadcast on ESPN Sunday, possibly the same day Robinson and the Pistons will be playing in his next biggest game, Game 7 at Little Caesars Arena.
“Eli was my inspiration,” Robinson said at his brother’s memorial service on May 13, 2025. “He was who I wanted to be and he was how I wanted to be. Eli, in all the ways you inspire me, with your sobriety and how you wrestled with the boldness that most of us can’t even comprehend.”
In the video, Robinson said it was important to honor his brother’s legacy. Eli, 31, died after jumping from the Piscataqua River Bridge in New Hampshire, connecting Portsmouth, N.H., to Kittery, Maine.
“I’ve gone through something, and I’m vulnerable enough to share it and speak to it,” Robinson said. “I think it gives so many other people permission to do the same. And I think the more that we can start to have these conversations, the more people that we can help.
“This is a little pendant that he had on in the past, that has his sobriety date on that I wear every single day. So in many ways, I try to carry that on, you know, his legacy. I miss him more than I can even begin to describe.”
The story includes comments from Duncan’s sister, Marta Robinson Day, a licensed mental health counselor.
“He (Eli) was having delusions, he was hearing voices,” Robinson Day said. “There were multiple episodes that were in line with the symptoms of somebody that has schizophrenia.
“What they’re finding in research is that if you use marijuana in a developing brain, which is considered up to the age of 25, you’re at a higher risk of developing psychosis later on.”
Duncan Robinson said his brother’s deteriorating health had “gotten to the point where it was beyond having a manic episode,” and Eli was having “full-blown hallucinations, hearing voices actively, constantly.”
“If we wanted Eli to try a new medication or recommit himself, Duncan would be the the final one to be able to talk him into it,” said Duncan’s mom, Elisabeth Robinson.
On April 30, 2025, two days after Robinson, a former Wolverine, wrapped up the season with the Miami Heat, he found out his brother had died by suicide.
“That was, that was really hard,” Duncan Robinson said. “You know, a big part of it was, like, trying to wrap your mind around what had actually happened and the permanence of it.
“He just lived such a tortured life that he was looking for relief and he couldn’t find it at medication. He couldn’t find it in any other avenue.
“I think it got to this point where he could no longer bear what he was dealing with and he felt like it was the only way to put everything at ease and stop the voices.”
The Robinson family established the Robinson Family Foundation to support families facing similar challenges and raise awareness about mental health and the potential link between early marijuana use and psychosis.
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