The Philadelphia 76ers acquired Quentin Grimes from the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline in an effort to get a little younger and acquire another offensive weapon. In 28 games with the Sixers, Grimes averaged 21.9 points and shot 37.3% from deep as he was allowed the offensive freedom he’s been looking for.

With that being said, Grimes remains unsigned as a restricted free agent almost a month into the free agency period. The money has dried up on the market and the Sixers appear to be battling for Grimes’ services only with themselves. Therefore, negotiations are ongoing between Grimes and the franchise.

With that being said, a fallback option could be Grimes just signing the qualifying offer with the Sixers and then entering unrestricted free agency in 2026. According to ESPN, that would look like this as they examined al four remaining RFAs which are Grimes, Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, and Cam Thomas:

The best available shooting guard continues to be without a home largely because of the Philadelphia 76ers’ finances. Although they have made minimum signings this offseason (Trendon Watford, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry and Justin Edwards), Philadelphia has held off using the $5.7 million tax midlevel exception because of second apron concerns. If Philadelphia used the exception, it would then hard cap itself at the second apron. The team is $19.5 million below without Grimes.

If a compromise is not reached, the fallback is to sign the one-year qualifying offer. Giddey ($11.1 million), Grimes ($8.5 million), Kuminga ($8 million) and Thomas ($6 million) have until Oct. 1 to sign their contracts. If they don’t, the contract is no longer valid (unless it is extended), and each player remains a restricted free agent.

Grimes at $8.5 million would be helpful for Philadelphia. He is somebody the Sixers view as a key piece due to his scoring ability. He showed he can be an isolation scorer in a pinch while also being somebody who can knock down an open 3 to space the floor. One has to believe Philadelphia will find a way to bring him back to the City of Brotherly Love.