Can Quentin Grimes and the Sixers find a deal that works for both?

New York Times

29-07-2025

Every dollar matters for the Philadelphia 76ers, a 24-win team caught in a financial crunch. But every dollar matters for the Sixers' most important current free agent, too.
Can they and Quentin Grimes meet in the middle?
Grimes, a two-way shooting guard who balled out last season for the tanking 76ers after arriving in a February trade, is one of four restricted free agents who remain on the market. The Athletic recently polled 16 people in NBA front offices (including no one from Philly's), asking them what they would deem a 'fair' contract for each member of the four: Grimes, the Golden State Warriors' Jonathan Kuminga, the Chicago Bulls' Josh Giddey and the Brooklyn Nets' Cam Thomas.
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Results for Kuminga and Giddey have already published. Now, it is on to Grimes, a 25-year-old who averaged an efficient 21.9 points in 28 games with the 76ers last season after a midseason trade.
Most people polled for the story considered Grimes within shouting range of the midlevel exception, which is worth $14.1 million in starting salary. Twelve of the 16 proposed average annual salaries between $12 million and $16.7 million. One front-office staffer who is especially high on Grimes suggested a four-year, $75 million deal, the most total money and the highest average annual value ($18.8 million) anyone in the poll mentioned.
On the other side of the spectrum was an executive who considered Grimes worth just $30 million over three years, $10 million in average annual value, the lowest number in the poll. The executive said he couldn't properly contextualize Grimes' scoring outburst at the end of last season, when the injured 76ers were losing intentionally in the hopes of keeping their first-round pick, because he 'played on a bad team.'
Others who suggested salaries lower than the midlevel exception mentioned market conditions as to why Grimes, a strong on-ball defender and 3-point sniper even at his worst, may not receive a salary commensurate with his end-of-season numbers.
'The way the cap (environment) is now, why would you spend $20 million on Quentin Grimes when you can get (Bucks guard) Gary Trent (Jr.) for a minimum?' said one executive, who proposed a three-year, $40 million contract for Grimes. 'We shouldn't just sign young players because they're young. … You've got to believe Grimes is gonna develop into your starting backcourt with (Tyrese) Maxey.'
The 76ers are loaded with young guards. There's Maxey, already an All-Star at age 24. There's 21-year-old Jared McCain, the rookie of the year favorite until he suffered a season-ending injury in 2024-25. Coming in this season is the No. 3 selection in this past June's NBA Draft, V.J. Edgecombe.
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If the Sixers consider Grimes a starter, they can pay him like one. If they worry he could lag behind those three, then they would be more hesitant to hand him a briefcase of cash.
One person in the poll suggested a two-year deal (for $24 million). Eleven people proposed three-year deals. The total money for those were $30 million, $36 million, $39 million, $40 million, $42 million, $45 million (two), $45.7 million (which is the exact worth of the midlevel exception), $48 million (two) and $50 million. Four people mentioned four-year contracts: One for $60 million, one for $64 million, one for $72 million and one for $75 million.
The restricted free agency experience, rarely a fun one, is even damper than usual this summer. The little cap space that was once out there has evaporated. Meanwhile, leverage isn't easy to find for players in Grimes', Kuminga's, Giddey's and Thomas' situations. Since they are restricted free agents, their 2024-25 teams have right of first refusal, meaning if Grimes, for example, signed an offer sheet with another franchise, the Sixers could match it to bring him back for the same price.
It makes rival organizations hesitant to tie up cap space with restricted free agents. Meanwhile, sign-and-trades are difficult because of a niche rule in the collective bargaining agreement called base year compensation, which makes the math in matching salaries far more complex than usual.
Yet, whether he's a 20-point scorer or not, Grimes can play.
By his second season, he was a starter on a New York Knicks team that won a playoff series. He drained 3-pointers and consistently guarded the opposition's best perimeter player. He's bounced around since — to the Detroit Pistons and then Dallas Mavericks and eventually to the Sixers, who let him cook after most of their top performers left the court late in the season.
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As Grimes' usage climbed in Philadelphia, his above-average efficiency maintained, not normally the case when a young player ratchets up his responsibilities. He ran more pick-and-rolls, attacked the basket and controlled his squad's offense more than ever while in Philly.
'There are not many Swiss Army knife wings out there that score it as efficiently, defend, pass or rebound like he does,' said the front-office staffer who suggested the four-year, $75 million contract. 'He might not be elite at any one thing, but (he's) very good at a lot of them.'
But even if the 76ers agree with that assessment, they have a problem.
The cheapest salary a four-year, $75 million contract could start at is $16.7 million. As of now, Philadelphia is approximately $3 million below the luxury-tax threshold. Any Grimes contract, including if he picked up his qualifying offer of $8.7 million (which would send him back to Philly on a one-year deal and allow him to enter unrestricted free agency a year from now), would drive them past it. But this contract would blast them into the first apron and only approximately $5 million short of the second apron, which the team is hoping to avoid.
The Sixers may overflow with talent but they also have the largest delta between their possibilities for the upcoming season.
In a best-case scenario, a former MVP in Joel Embiid looks like himself again; a renaissance season from nine-time All-Star Paul George emerges; and a young stud in Maxey continues to improve. There is additional talent to fill in the gaps. In a worst-case one, Embiid and George, who just underwent another surgery, can't stay on the floor and the team combusts, just as it did in 2024-25, when expectations were high and results were the league's most disappointing. The Sixers finished 24-58.
It will be difficult to justify such an expensive roster if they falter again this season.
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For that reason, people polled about Grimes' contract concentrated on keeping him tradable. If the Sixers need to break it down, if they need to flip him for a center because Embiid misses time, maintaining him either on a short-term contract or on one with a salary below the midlevel exception could be an emphasis.
'I like Quentin Grimes. He's a very good player. I would present him with two options: You can have a three-year, $48 million deal or a four-year, $60 million,' one executive said.
A three-year contract of that value would crest barely above this season's MLE, which can be used as a trade exception (meaning the Sixers could hypothetically trade Grimes into someone else's midlevel exception without having to match salaries). His 2026-27 salary would clear that season's MLE, too.
But the four-year, $60 million deal could keep both seasons under it.
'You say to him, 'Do you want money or do you want longevity?'' the executive said. 'And if he says both, you say, 'We can't offer both.''
Starting-caliber players tend to make more than this. In 2025-26, 22 point guards, 28 shooting guards, 21 small forwards, 25 power forwards and 22 centers will earn more than the MLE.
One participant in the poll suggested a salary barely above the midlevel, just to signal that Grimes is worth it.
'It's the same ballpark as what (Caris) LeVert and Nickeil Alexander-Walker got in average annual value,' he said.
So now, like the rest of his restricted counterparts, Grimes waits, hoping to make the money his performance dictates he deserves and hoping to avoid the contract his lack of leverage could plop in front of him.