The Quentin Grimes situation certainly had the makings of getting ugly this past summer. Negotiations between Grimes and the Sixers didn’t seem to get very close, although that doesn’t mean either side
was necessarily at fault. Grimes was reportedly asking for approximately $25 million per season in a multi-year deal on the restricted free agent market. For a player in his mid-20s coming off a career year, empty stats or not, it’s an understandable ask.
However, it’s also completely understandable to see why Daryl Morey and company were nowhere near interested in a long-term deal with Grimes at this price tag. Philadelphia has a fortune tied up in contracts to Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George. In addition to Maxey, it goes without saying that the Sixers will want to make sure there’s ample playing time in the backcourt for VJ Edgecombe and Jared McCain when he returns. One could certainly see how Grimes was the odd-man out here, but there were no reported teams showing interest in Grimes in restricted free agency. That ultimately led towards Grimes accepting a one-year qualifying offer worth just under $9 million dollars for 2025-26, gave him a no-trade clause, and will allow him to enter unrestricted free agency next summer.
Perhaps that qualifying offer is a nice happy medium for all parties involved and the two sides can just focus on best deploying Grimes on the floor for Philly. The Sixers are paying him far less this season than the annual salary he was seeking over a multi-year deal but they don’t get the luxury of flipping him at the deadline — at least not on their terms — if they’re in a scenario in which they’d prefer to offload expiring contracts come February. But, that part about deploying Grimes on the floor as best they can in 2025-26 couldn’t have started better for the Sixers.
Through four games, Grimes is averaging 31.5 minutes per game. It’s understandably less than his minutes per game was last year with Philly, and it’s a number that probably only decreases when George and McCain get back on the floor. He has also come off the bench in all four of the games thus far. But, after a 2024-25 season in which seemingly everyone got hurt for the Sixers at some point, some bench production should certainly be welcomed with open arms.
Grimes is 13-of-27 from the three-point line so far this season. That’s 6.8 attempts per game from downtown which is only one less three-point attempt averaged per game than he had in 28 games with the Sixers last season. Every contender has a player like this. It’s someone whose job is primarily to provide an offensive spark off the bench and make some shots to perhaps cut a double-digit deficit back to a reasonable range. Maybe sometimes the player in this role hits a few shots that stretch a lead and allow the starters to not have to expend as much energy as they would in a tight game.
It’s also important to note that Grimes is seeing the floor a lot in crunch time thus far for Philadelphia. Some of his threes have come at very opportune times for the Sixers and he appears to be thriving as a small forward in some smaller lineups sent out by Nick Nurse. Again, while the consistency with which Grimes plays this role for the entire season is unknown, it’s working out of the gate.
Perhaps more importantly that anything else, Grimes seems to be enjoying himself.
Those feel like three significant words when you consider the standstill that existed between Grimes and the Sixers for the entire summer. Of course, business is business, and given how wide the divide seems to be between the two sides, this could certainly be a sendoff season for Grimes in Philly. But if Grimes continues to be accepting of his current role, everyone will be happy with the way said sendoff goes this season.
I don’t think anyone would argue that all three of Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe should get more playing time over Grimes when McCain is healthy. But those three players aren’t going to play 48 minutes a night. When you couple the short stints that two of Maxey, McCain and Edgecombe aren’t on the floor with stints in which Grimes plays small forward with two of those three at the guard spots in a lineup, you can find 25-30 minutes a night for Grimes rather easily. Remember, it’s not a bad thing if Grimes keeps producing at the level he has thus far to start the season off the bench.
