Quentin Grimes has been a rare bright spot in an otherwise overcast season for the Philadelphia 76ers.
The 24-year-old has made the most of his opportunities in Nick Nurse’s rotation. In 22 games for Philadelphia, Grimes is averaging a career-best 21.8 points, 4.2 assists, and 5 rebounds per game. That level of production has undoubtedly boosted his value as he heads into restricted free agency.
According to a March 31 report from Marc Stein, the Sixers will head into the summer with hopes of re-signing Grimes.
“League sources say that Quentin Grimes’ camp did not explicitly request a trade out of Dallas, despite suggestions to the contrary… The fourth-year guard appears to have given his forthcoming foray into a restricted free agency quite a boost regardless with his scoring as a Sixer,” Stein reported. “The Sixers, I’m told, do hope to re-sign Grimes, whose precise market is difficult to forecast (as it always is for RFAs).”
Philadelphia enjoys the advantage of matching any offer sheet Grimes signs during the offseason. Naturally, they will set a limit on how much they are willing to spend. Still, they will likely feel confident about keeping Grimes on the roster moving forward.
Sixers Could Lose Grimes to the Brooklyn Nets
According to Adam Aaronson of the Philadelphia Voice, the Brooklyn Nets could emerge as a threat to steal Grimes in free agency. Brooklyn is one of the few teams with legitimate cap space heading into the offseason.
“Because Grimes will be a restricted free agent, the Sixers can match any offer he theoretically signs with another team this summer,” Aaronson wrote. “But the Nets currently project to be the only team with significant cap space this summer. Meaning, if the Nets do not make a run at Grimes, the Sixers will be in prime position to ink him to a team-friendly contract without much of a threatening market out there…$20 million annually is a nice ballpark.”
Kyle Lowry could leave the team at the end of the season. He will become an unrestricted free agent. As such, the need to retain Grimes is high, especially after how he’s performed for the franchise so far.
Nick Nurse is Looking Ahead
On Saturday, March 29, the Sixers lost to the Miami Heat, 118-95. That loss eliminated Nick Nurse’s team from playoff contention.
During his postgame news conference, Nurse admitted that this season has been a struggle, both for him and the players on the roster.
“Obviously, it’s not anywhere near where we had hoped it would be when we set out this summer and this fall. That’s for sure,” Nurse said during his post-game news conference. “And that’s the only thing you can say. It was a super struggle.”
Nurse continued.
“You were kind of always holding out hope that the team was playing better and getting some wins and hopefully get some players back,” Nurse said.“[I] said this numerous times: it just didn’t seem like the injury bug would ever leave us. It just seemed like every time we’d have a good game and get a win or something, it’d cost us a player or two for the next one, and we could never build any momentum.”
Daryl Morey has a busy summer ahead. He must decide whether to run things back with the current roster or pivot toward a rebuild. Joel Embiid and Paul George will likely continue to be injury risks. Finding a high-level talent via the draft is going to be of the utmost importance.
Whatever the front office decides to do, this season is one everyone would rather forget. Hopefully, a summer of smart business will allow everyone to do just that.
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