Given how this season has turned out for the Philadelphia 76ers, it would seem too superficial to give them credit for making moves here and there, especially with the number of mishits they have incurred dating back to last year’s free agency. However, as everyone knows, the team did not just make any other routinary move in the middle of their campaign.
Right when the 76ers were exhausting every available avenue to free up some cap space for more financial legroom, the front office managed to snag Quentin Grimes from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Caleb Martin, one of Morey’s well-acclaimed signings during the offseason. Initially, the team got a lot of flak for ditching Martin, who has been one of the better role players in the league in recent seasons and who was on a great contract. However, the tables quickly turned.
Almost no one expected Grimes to emerge as a budding star for the 76ers. While his production has been magnified by the team sitting out its stars, the Mavericks really fumbled the bag with that one as Martin has barely moved the needle for them and has mostly sat out games due to injury.
The 76ers look even more brilliant for making the trade for Quentin Grimes
Aside from the complete inequality of the trade in hindsight, Dallas looks even more foolish following a recent revelation about how the Grimes trade came to be.
According to Marc Stein (subscription required), contrary to reports coming out of Dallas, Grimes never asked to be traded by the Mavericks. There were rumors that swirled about the 24-year-old wanting to be dealt elsewhere when his former ball club acquired Max Christie from the Lakers in the blockbuster Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade, but apparently, those could not be any more wrong.
Instead, the 76ers reaped the rewards of the Mavericks turning impatient. While they probably envisioned Martin being a more sensible fit for them given their litany of wings, he has been nowhere close to producing the kind of impact that Grimes has exhibited in Philly.
Dallas fans are already souring on their front office, and while the Luka Doncic trade will never be topped, the Quentin Grimes trade is also something to look back on with regret.
Unfortunately for the Mavs, there is no undoing what they did. Now, the Philadelphia 76ers only stand to benefit from pulling off arguably the biggest heist of the season (outside of the Luka trade, of course).