Slowly but surely, the Philadelphia 76ers are carving out their identity as a collective. For now, they are a middle of the pack team, but they are certainly taking steps forward to getting back to being a good team. Having said that, part of their discovery is realizing that some players are not going to be on the roster for long. Case in point? Look no further than Quentin Grimes.
Grimes, who has a pretty blazing start to the season, has completely gone cold as of late. Over his last 10 games, he has averaged just 10.2 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds despite playing 30.2 minutes a night. To make matters worse, he has drained just 36.4 of his total shots in that period, which includes a measly 31.7 percent conversion rate from beyond the arc.
With Grimes on an expiring deal, it would be very sensible for the 76ers front office to aggressively shop him in trades. However, even that could turn out to be a glib undertaking, especially since teams are not really going to be willing to meet the price the 76ers are likely going to set for prospective buyers.
The 76ers will have a difficult time trading Quentin Grimes this season
With each passing game, it becoming all the more apparent that the 76ers will not be re-signing Grimes next summer when he hits free agency anew. Even if he somehow ends up lowering his asking price, Philly’s brass will probably not feel too compelled to hand him a new deal given that they need to free up minutes for Jared McCain anyway.
Unfortunately for the team, they will most likely have a very difficult time recouping anything of real value for Grimes. Teams are not going to give up assets of considerable value to the 76ers to get a half-year stint from Grimes, especially with the way he is playing as of late.
Realistically speaking, the 76ers would be much better off just allowing Grimes’ deal to expire this season. Maybe he can adjust to having a much lower usage rate as the season progresses and he gets back to being an effective off-ball operator. Even if he fails in that regard, he still has some value for the team given that they have one of the lowest-scoring benches in the entire league.
The Quentin Grimes experience is entering its bitter phase, and the 76ers are basically handcuffed into continuing to play house for him. For what it’s worth, there is still a lot of time for him to figure things out, though the team needs him to do so fast.