ATLANTA, GEORGIA – MARCH 10: Quentin Grimes #5 of the Philadelphia 76ers looks on during the game against the Atlanta Hawks during the third quarter at State Farm Arena on March 10, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
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With the start of training camp only days away, the Philadelphia 76ers and Quentin Grimes still aren’t close to reaching an agreement on a new contract, according to multiple reports.
During an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today on Wednesday, Shams Charania said the Sixers and Grimes are still “very far apart” on a new deal, which might lead Grimes to accept his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer. If he does so, he’d become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026, and he’d gain the right to veto any trade this year. However, he would lose his Bird rights if he did get traded, which would limit his new team’s ability to re-sign him next year.
According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, the Sixers have offered Grimes two deals: his qualifying offer, or a “one-year balloon payment, which is designed for Grimes to waive the no-trade clause that would be attached to him accepting the qualifying offer.” Jones added that the Sixers would prefer to “work out a long-term, four-year deal with Grimes”, which he “would actually be amenable to,” but the sides are “far apart” in terms of money.
Grimes’ camp met with the Sixers on Wednesday and proposed pushing the Oct. 1 deadline for him to accept the qualifying offer back to Oct. 8, according to Jones. However, the Sixers “are expected to reject that proposal.”
If Grimes does end up taking the qualifying offer, it could be an all-time bet-on-yourself situation. If he proves that his late-season breakout following his arrival in Philadelphia wasn’t an anomaly, he could be in line for a massive payday next offseason. But given the crowded state of the Sixers’ backcourt and spending trends around the NBA, there’s also real potential for that to blow up in Grimes’ face.
Why The Sixers Are Drawing The Line With Grimes
At the moment, the Sixers have roughly $185.9 million in salary on their books with 13 players on standard contracts. That leaves them around $10 million below the $195.9 million first apron and $21.9 million below the $207.8 million second apron.
The Sixers have yet to hard-cap themselves at either apron, so they could offer Grimes anything up to a max contract. However, they may be drawing the line at a starting salary around $16 million. Going above that line would close off their ability to use the full $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception—which would hard-cap them at the second apron—unless they shed salary elsewhere.
At this point of the offseason, it’s unlikely that the Sixers will find a free agent who’s worth that type of a salary. Grimes’ camp may be arguing that the Sixers should bump their offer up to the $20 million-per-year range as a result. However, the NBA’s latest collective bargaining agreement also allows teams to use their mid-level exception as a trade exception. Even though it’ll begin to prorate in mid-January, the Sixers could look to save it for the trade deadline or even to spend on a free agent in the buyout market.
From Grimes’ perspective, that’s a problem for the Sixers to grapple with, and it should have no bearing on his next contract. But with fellow guards Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and VJ Edgecombe all signed through at least the 2027-28 season, the Sixers might not feel the pressure to retain Grimes at all costs. Acquiring him cost them only Caleb Martin, whom they signed in free agency last summer, and a distant second-round pick. (They also got the Mavericks’ 2025 second-round pick, which they spent on Johni Broome.)
An All-Time Bet On Yourself, Or A Disaster In The Making?
Over the first three years of his NBA career, Grimes averaged 8.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.8 made threes and 0.7 steals in 23.4 minutes per game while shooting 42.8% overall and 37.1% from three-point range. During his 28 games with the Sixers after the trade deadline last year, he averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.9 threes and 1.5 steals in 33.7 minutes per game while shooting 46.9% overall and 37.3% from deep.
Granted, Grimes largely put up those numbers alongside a depleted supporting cast. He played only five games alongside star center Joel Embiid, nine games with Maxey and 10 games with Paul George. McCain was already out for the year by the time Grimes arrived in Philadelphia, and Edgecombe was still months away from being drafted.
Even if the Sixers and Grimes can find a middle ground in negotiations and agree to a long-term deal, he likely won’t be able to replicate his production from his late-season breakout. He’ll be facing far more high-level competition for touches and shot attempts. That should make the security of a long-term contract tempting for him.
If he takes the qualifying offer, he’ll be sending a clear signal to the Sixers that he’ll likely be moving on after this season. That could force them to begin looking ahead, too. They’d be foolish to outright bury him on the bench—after all, he’s still one of their better players—but they would be less incentivized to prioritize him over the development of McCain and Edgecombe in particular.
Far more teams are projected to have salary-cap space next summer than they did this past offseason, when the Brooklyn Nets were the only team with real spending power. Granted, plenty about the league’s financial landscape can (and will) change between now and next offseason. There’s also no guarantee that Grimes would find a significantly bigger contract in unrestricted free agency, particularly if his role gets dialed back this year.
In late July, Fred Katz of The Athletic surveyed 16 front office members across the league to gauge what a fair contract for Grimes would be. Most of them “considered Grimes within shouting range” of the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, including 12 who proposed “average annual salaries between $12 million and $16.7 million.” And that was fresh off his late-season breakout, too. What happens if he returns to earth this year?
Former Mavericks center Nerlens Noel could be a cautionary tale in that regard for Grimes. After reportedly rejecting a four-year, $70 million contract offer from the Mavericks, he wound up having to settle for the one-year, $4.1 million qualifying offer. He then landed only a veteran-minimum contract from the Oklahoma City Thunder the following summer, although he did rehabilitate his value in OKC and eventually got one final hefty payday from the New York Knicks. Still, he came nowhere close to recouping the value of the deal he originally turned down. (He later sued his agent.)
Grimes might be surveying the projected cap-space landscape around the league next summer and figure he stands a better chance of landing a big-money, long-term deal. There’s no guarantee that’ll be the case, though.
“The way the cap (environment) is now, why would you spend $20 million on Quentin Grimes when you can get (Bucks guard) Gary Trent (Jr.) for a minimum?” one executive told Katz. “We shouldn’t just sign young players because they’re young.”
With teams tightening their purse strings because of the new CBA, there’s no guarantee that Grimes will find a much friendlier market next offseason. But barring a dramatic change over the next few days, he appears willing to gamble on that either way.
He’d just have to hope it works out better for him than it did for Noel.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.
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