Yeah, that might be a bit rich for our blood.
ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that Quentin Grimes will be signing a four-year, $60 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, ending his Sixers tenure after two seasons. The Lakers were one of two suitors rumored to be interested in Grimes, along with the Miami Heat. The night before he signed, Jake Fischer reported again he expected Grimes to LA.
Grimes’ eventual departure to LA was reported before the Sixers made any moves, but using part of their mid-level exception to sign Dean Wade all but sealed Grimes’ fate. Whether they signed Wade or not, that was probably not a number the Sixers were ever going to match. The Lakers have been big spenders so far this summer, also handing out deals to Walker Kessler, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton.
With Grimes gone and Wade signed, the quickest breakdown of the Sixers’ cap situation is that they have $16.3 million to spend before hitting the first apron that will hard cap them, plus the $6ish million they have left on their mid-level exception.
Grimes arrived in Philadelphia at the trade deadline during the 2024-25 season, but didn’t really get to play with the real version of this team until 2025-26. Averaging 21.9 points per game for the hospital Sixers appeared to set up Grimes pretty well for restricted free agency, but not many offers came Grimes’ way and he came back to the Sixers on the qualifying offer.
Despite a pretty up-and-down season, mostly in the 6th man role, Grimes was the only playable guard off the bench for the Sixers in the playoffs. He was great down the stretch in Game 5 of round 1 against Boston, but couldn’t string it together consistently as he shot 39% from the field in the playoffs.
LA will certainly provide a bigger role for Grimes than coming back to play with a backcourt of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Labaron Philon Jr, but the Sixers will miss his two-way ability should they not be able to replace it.
