All signs are pointed to Quentin Grimes returning as a Sixer, but the “When?” of it all is an annoyingly open-ended question.
This summer’s free agency period for the Philadelphia 76ers has been an especially quiet one, with the team already well over the salary cap level and only having the taxpayer midlevel exception and minimum and two-way contracts at their disposal. The biggest drama is the restricted free agency of Quentin Grimes, which, like nearly the entire restricted free agent class currently within the NBA, has dragged on interminably.
Our Bryan Toporek did an excellent job last week of laying out the nitty gritty cap reasons why Grimes is still in limbo. Basically, his camp was reportedly seeking around $25 million per year, but there’s no available landing spot for him in the market beyond the $14.1 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception. The Sixers’ standing offer is presumably in between those two figures, meaning re-signing with the club is Grimes’ path to the best payday in the short-term. However, it would appear his agent is still hoping some unexpected alternative pops up out of nowhere with August nearly around the corner.
Like us, Grimes looks to be tired of the situation, taking to social media in recent days for some light trolling.
First, he tweeted the following on Tuesday night:
Sometimes you just gotta throw on some cowboy boots
— Quentin Grimes (@qdotgrimes) July 23, 2025
Many speculated Quentin was hinting at his next signing destination. Was it Houston? San Antonio? Grimes is a Houston native, giving him plausible deniability on the trolling front. Then, the below image came up on his Instagram story on Wednesday:
Quentin Grimes on IG: pic.twitter.com/RYcuVj7TVi
— Harrison Grimm (@Harrison_Grimm) July 23, 2025
This feels like the Facebook poke feature of negotiating tactics. ‘Hey, Sixers, remember me? I’m still out here.’
For now, everything appears to be headed for Grimes’ camp coming back to the Sixers’ standing offer. Playing on the $8.7 million qualifying offer and entering unrestricted free agency next summer would be a risky move. Something else opening up at this stage is unrealistic and teams know the Sixers would want to match an offer anyway, meaning there’s little incentive for them to undergo complicated roster machinations just to mess with Philadelphia’s tax situation. Grimes’ restricted free agency was a factor in Philadelphia’s inability to retain Guerschon Yabusele, but with that now behind us, there’s no additional reason for the team not to continue waiting until Quentin’s camp agrees to their terms. It’s an extremely annoying waiting game, apparently for all parties involved.