NBA Insider Sheds Light on Sixers' Thoughts About Quentin Grimes
At the end of the 2024-2025 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers will have an important decision to make regarding their trade deadline pickup, Quentin Grimes.
As Grimes’ contract is set to expire at the end of the league year, he’ll have an opportunity to hit the free agency market. Since he’s restricted, the Sixers will get a chance to match any offer that Grimes agrees to. The last time the Sixers matched an offer sheet was two summers ago when they nearly lost Paul Reed to the Utah Jazz.
Considering how well Grimes has played since getting traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Sixers, the 76ers will be encouraged by the masses to retain the standout guard.
According to NBA Insider Marc Stein, the Sixers still have interest in bringing Grimes back for the 2025-2026 season and beyond.
“League sources say that Quentin Grimes’ camp did not explicitly request a trade out of Dallas, despite suggestions to the contrary, but the fourth-year guard appears to have given his forthcoming foray into a restricted free agency quite a boost regardless with his scoring as a Sixer. The Sixers, I’m told, do hope to re-sign Grimes, whose precise market is difficult to forecast (as it always is for RFAs).” via The Stein Line.
Since debuting for the Sixers, Grimes has appeared in 22 games. He started all but three of those matchups. While averaging roughly 11 more minutes with the Sixers compared to his tenure with the Mavs, Grimes’ production has doubled.
In those 22 games, the 24-year-old veteran has averaged 22 points on 49 percent shooting from the field and 39 percent shooting from three on eight attempts per game.
There’s no denying Grimes has played well for the Sixers, but there are two factors to take into consideration when thinking about whether the Sixers should bring Grimes back or not.
The first is how much it would cost. As Stein mentions, the market for Grimes is difficult to forecast. The Sixers spent a lot last summer, offering max deals to Tyrese Maxey and Paul George while giving an extension to Joel Embiid.
Multiple players have options to decide on, and Guerschon Yabusele is another impending free agent who outplayed his current deal and left an impression on the Sixers. Wanting him back for basketball reasons is one thing, but how much it would cost financially is a different ballgame.
The second factor is how Grimes fits when the Sixers have their high-usage players back on the floor. Since Grimes landed on the Sixers during an injury-filled season, he didn’t get much time to play alongside the star trio. As much as the numbers look great now, they are sure to take a hit when those guys are around. Would Grimes remain effective if his usage drops from its current career-high 27 percent?
Philly’s front office has a lot to think about this summer. Grimes will be a hot topic as he’s potentially played himself into a much bigger deal after struggling in New York and Detroit.