The Quentin Grimes trade was a massive home run for the Sixers in a season when nearly everything went wrong. He’s earned himself a payday in free agency, and the Sixers should be doing what they can to keep him.
The idea of Caleb Martin was promising for the Sixers heading into this season. A two-way wing who can provide some versatility at both ends of the floor was what they needed. But with injuries and Martin struggling to deliver consistently, trading him landed a home-run return that came at a time when nearly everything was going wrong.
Quentin Grimes was a revelation for the Sixers. He’d flashed signs of being able to take on a larger role previously with the Knicks, but everything soared to a new level in Philadelphia with the opportunity he had to close the season.
In 28 games (25 starts) and 33.7 minutes a night, Grimes averaged major career-highs across the board with 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals. With 46.9/37.3/75.2 shooting splits, including ramping up his three-point volume to an impressive 7.9 attempts per game, he also boasted excellent efficiency with a 59.2 true shooting percentage. For a 24-year-old on a new team, taking on that kind of high usage for the first time, it’s safe to say he surpassed expectations.
The stakes may have been low for the Sixers in terms of competing since Grimes arrived. Individually, it was an ideal chance for him to fire away and showcase his talents. But that doesn’t change what he proved he could do.
Apart from being the kind of trusty, quick-trigger catch-and-shoot threat that can fit great off the ball next to Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain, Grimes created more off the dribble beyond the arc, too. He can pull up coming off screens and create space at times with side-steps, step-backs and hesitations. Attacking the basket, he showed he has some shifty burst, ball-handling to create separation, touch around the basket, and ability to finish through contact to be a weapon going downhill.
To summarize how much more Grimes created for himself, his percentage of two-pointers that were assisted plummeted from 74.6 percent of his attempts the previous three seasons to just 36.1 with the Sixers. And he still shot an efficient 55.9 percent on these shots and made 72.7 of his attempts within three feet.
While he isn’t a lead playmaker, he also looked comfortable doing more as a passer when handling pick-and-rolls, leading in transition, and reading the floor fairly well to hit cutters and kick out to shooters on time.
Defensively, Grimes can take on tough assignments at the point of attack and deliver. He has a strong 6-foot-5 frame with the motor and lateral quickness to pester guards and some forwards on the perimeter, get around screens, and generally be a nuisance. Not to mention rack up a fair number of steals, too. He has all the tools to be a great fit to complement the smaller Maxey and McCain.
The highlights came frequently for Grimes. Games like his then career-high 44-point night against the Warriors on Mar. 1 were a perfect example of all he can do offensively:
Or when he went on a 46-point outburst against the Rockets to beat that career-high again just 16 days later:
Simply put, Grimes went on a tear over the final two months of the season. Far too much skill and versatility was on display for it to look like a fluke. Grimes is clearly worthy of stepping up to keep a significant role — and payday.
Of course, his role should be different next season. He won’t need to carry nearly the same offensive load if the Sixers leave tanking behind with better health from their stars. In time, opponents would also adjust to handling Grimes if he always maintained this kind of lead role, so he shouldn’t be expected to maintain quite this level of play forever anyway. Nevertheless, knowing Grimes is capable of scaling up his creation when called upon will be a luxury.
Now it’s just a matter of keeping Grimes in free agency to maintain a terrific trio of guards with him, Maxey, and the recovering McCain.
There isn’t loads of free cap space on the market this summer. With the Nets as the only significant threat to sign the restricted free agent Grimes to a big offer sheet, the Sixers are in a strong position. They have his Bird Rights, so can they re-sign him on anything up to a max contract, and are able to match any offer and re-sign him if they choose to. Even if the Nets want to try forcing the Sixers’ hand by really ramping the price up and throwing close to $20 million per year over three or four seasons at Grimes.
There’s also the matter of how much Guerschon Yabusele makes in free agency. Keeping him should be one of the Sixers’ priorities, so if they can manage to re-sign Yabusele on a good deal — for instance, if they’re lucky, to the $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception — that would increase their flexibility to pay out a bit more for Grimes. Furthermore, keeping Kelly Oubre Jr. as well may become tricky depending on the prices Yabusele and Grimes command. (Check out our Bryan Toporek’s analysis for a deeper dive into all the numbers.)
When Daryl Morey spoke to media after the season, he made it clear the team is planning to bring back Grimes.
“I did want to mention Quentin Grimes. I think he was a real bright spot,” Morey said. “We’re excited for him to come back. We’ve positioned ourselves to bring him back. He had multiple 40-point performances. His defense we think really fits well with Tyrese. We think he’s a very good fit there. And we think with Joel, Paul and Tyrese, he’s a very good fit.”
Now we need to see how the market plays out. At the moment, it looks like Grimes will be back on a sizeable contract to continue the breakout he started in Philly — and deservedly so.
Player grade: A