The Philadelphia 76ers remain at an impasse with Quentin Grimes, with his camp still firm on their lofty demands for a much higher pay raise from the front office. The latter, however, has not wavered, and at this juncture, the team remains resolute on letting the market play out for his eventual price tag, which is of course detrimental to the young guard given that there are no realistic bidders at the moment.
But given how this front is turning out, it is probably within the realm of reality to expect this status quo to continue and maybe even spill over into the training camp. There is no rush on the part of both parties, and there is likewise no compelling reasons for the 76ers to feel the need to rush the process, especially with the team already operating under the belief that they have him locked up for the 2025-26 campaign at the very least.
Grimes, who came over from Dallas before the trade deadline, has been lauded as a tremendous steal on the part of the 76ers. He quickly stood out for Philly as a do-it-all wing, averaging 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 28 outings, emerging as the nominal first option for the team during the latter stretch of the season when they had their Big Three shelved for the most part.
76ers should double down on their current stance on Quentin Grimes
Yet despite the Mavericks clearly getting the short end of the stick when they made that trade, Dallas’ brass does not seem to mind it at all, especially since they have actually managed to tick off one of their goals in doing so.
As bared by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon during a recent episode of The Hoop Collective podcast, while several Mavs coaches expressed their disdain with the infamous Luka Doncic trade, none were particularly frustrated with the team’s decision to send Grimes elsewhere which is, of course, wayward from everybody else feels about the swap.
At the time, Grimes apparently wanted the full mid-level exception, which the Mavs were not willing to hand him. But now, the 76ers prefer to keep him in that range, although Grimes’ breakout — if not downright bloated — production has him and his representation asking for much more.
The 25-year-old is simply trying to play the market which, in all honesty, should be expected from any productive role player. The Philadelphia 76ers have to keep that in mind and the front office must not make the mistake of veering too much into the niceties of the situation just to appease him when the reality of the situation is that offering him something bigger than what his situation warrants would instantly become a paralyzing overpay.