Contract negotiations are part of basketball. Sometimes they're tense, of course, because at the end of the day, it's an employee asking their employer for more money. Most of the time, though, these negotiations end without much vitriol when a contract is signed. That doesn't seem like the case with the Philadelphia 76ers and restricted free agent Quentin Grimes though, who might be closing in on a deal, but are doing so while the overarching relationship between team and player deteriorates.
That's not good for Grimes' future with the Sixers, and it's not a good precedent for future negotiations with free agents, either. Recently, Grimes' agent said to PhillyVoice that, "A sign-and-trade is best," and Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Sixers' most recent offer to Grimes was 4-years, $39 million — an average value of under $10 million per season, not even half of what Grimes is looking for.
And yes, I know that Grimes is a RFA and has no leverage here, and that he was likely never going to get the $25 million per year his agent claims he should get. But... for a player of Grimes' caliber (he averaged 21.9 points with the Sixers last season) that offer isn't made in good faith. The Sixers know it's laughable. They know he was never going to accept that, especially because it's barely a higher yearly salary than Grimes' qualifying offer. Did the team just hope he wouldn't do any math and figure that out?
So now, not too long after James Harden told a bunch of children in China that he'd never play for Daryl Morey again, there's another player who the front office is alienating into wanting to play elsewhere. Whether Morey and the Sixers front office actually deserves blame for either situation can be debated, but it's hard to watch this all unfold and not think the franchise is developing a reputation of not being player-friendly.
Sixers aren't doing themselves any favors in the public eye
I think Daryl Morey is a good GM. He isn't afraid to make moves and has built some elite rosters with both the Rockets and Sixers. I also think that situations like Grimes' are quickly forgotten if they get resolved — and, eventually, I think this does get resolved and Grimes plays for the Sixers this year.
Still... the instances of players and this franchise not seeing eye-to-eye are adding up. When it happens one time, future negotiations probably aren't impacted. When it happens multiple times, regardless of who is actually to blame, that sticks in people's minds a bit more. And these aren't the things you want to stick in prospective players' minds.