Signs are pointing toward Quentin Grimes returning to Philadelphia without the huge contract he would hope for or the long-term deal the Sixers would desire.
We’ve been closely tracking Quentin Grimes’ restricted free agency as the major unresolved issue remaining in the offseason for the Philadelphia 76ers, even as all parties seem a little tired of the whole thing. We recently heard some intel from Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer, starting at around the 20:30 mark of the livestream video titled ‘7/24 NBA Insider Notebook’ on Bleacher Report’s NBA Rumors page.
“I do not think we are getting any resolution this week or in July for Quentin Grimes or Josh Giddey, as of this juncture. Now, the Sixers 100 percent want to bring back Quentin Grimes. They want him at a very strong number and they basically cannot mess this up because of letting Guerschon Yabusele head out the door to New York with the absolute eye on bringing back Quentin Grimes and not hardcapping themselves at the second apron. So the Sixers, if they have their wish, they will get Quentin Grimes and they will maintain flexibility with the second apron restrictions to be a player and have their full taxpayer mid-level exception available as a trade exception or as an opportunity to potentially outbid other contending teams on the buyout market in mid-season, post-trade deadline, or at other stages of the season.”
I’m going to pause here to mention that nothing about that news is too surprising. It was previously reported that the Sixers didn’t offer Yabusele as competitive an offer as he received with the Knicks due to the fact that the Grimes situation was unresolved. It was unfortunate, but simply the reality of the situation. We know they want him back and given that he’s a restricted free agent and no other team has the cap space to offer him an exorbitant amount of money, there’s no reason to think he won’t be in Philadelphia next season. The interesting tidbit is about using the TMLE potentially to outbid other teams on the buyout market during the season, which makes sense with the current free agent market pretty well picked over at this point and no unrestricted free agents remaining to whom you would really need to give more than a minimum salary contract.
OK, back to Jake…
“Quentin Grimes seems more likely to be signing more of a short-term agreement with Philadelphia, as of my latest understanding, than anything else…With Grimes, I think again, his status seems more likely to be concluded by a short-term agreement, just like Jonathan Kuminga, just like Cam Thomas.”
Now, we can more precisely shape our view of Grimes’ situation with this nugget. On the plus side, there’s no mention of Grimes going the qualifying offer route, which Jake strongly hints is a possibility for Josh Giddey with his strained relationship with the Chicago Bulls. However, the other side is that something like a four-year, $70 million contract does not appear to be in the cards for Grimes.
If we’re reading the tea leaves, the Sixers are offering something in the average annual value in the mid-to-high teens per season, and Quentin’s camp values him at a higher number. So he might sign something like a two-year deal around the Sixers’ number, and then bet he’s able to get more in the open market as an unrestricted free agent a couple summers from now. It would offer Grimes more security and much more money next season than playing on the qualifying offer at $8.74 million. But if he maintains the level of play we saw during his time in Philadelphia for the next two seasons and with how the NBA salary cap keeps rising every year, he should be able to cash in at a higher number for hypothetical years three and four than what the Sixers are offering. It would be a bit of a gamble to forgo the guaranteed money for an additional year or two, but for someone still just 25 years old, it makes plenty of sense.
From the Sixers’ perspective, something like a two-year deal wouldn’t be the worst outcome in the world. They would still have time to evaluate how Grimes fits with the rest of their young guard rotation and then it would be an exceedingly tradeable contract if they decide to go that route.
It doesn’t seem like an ending to Grimes’ free agency situation is imminent, but we’ll continue keeping a close watch on things here and report back.