The summer-long negotiations between Quentin Grimes and the Philadelphia 76ers have finally come to an end. The 4-year guard out of Houston will return to the Sixers on the 1-year $8.7 million qualifying offer. He will have a no-trade clause and will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.

One has to wonder what both sides offered one another in order to get a deal done. The Sixers appeared to have wanted to avoid the no-trade clause in his deal so they offered a 1-year balloon deal to avoid that, but Grimes and his team declined the offer and came back with one of their own.

Per ESPN’s Shams Charania on the negotiations after talking to Grimes’ agent, David Bauman:

After Grimes’ side indicated they desired a contract in the $30 million range early in free agency and then in the $20 million to $25 million range, the two sides never found traction on a new deal this offseason ahead of Wednesday’s 11:59 p.m. ET deadline for the qualifying offer.

Bauman said the Sixers’ first formal proposal of the offseason came on Sept. 24 — nearly three months into free agency — with a four-year, $39 million offer. Days later, Grimes was offered a one-year, $8.8 million deal that gave him $100,000 more than his qualifying offer in order to waive an inherent no-trade clause. Those frameworks were declined, Bauman said, and negotiations never advanced.

On Wednesday, Bauman said Grimes’ side offered the 76ers a one-year framework at $17 million while waiving the no-trade clause and a two-year deal at $34 million with a player option. Both were rejected by the 76ers, Bauman said.

This does set up negotiations for the 2026 offseason. The Sixers like Grimes’ ability to put the ball in the basket. Especially, as a No. 1 option should they need him to do so again. If he can quickly adjust to being the No. 4 guy behind the Big 3, then he should be kept in Philadelphia for quite some time.

Grimes averaged 21.9 points for the Sixers after being acquired at the deadline from the Dallas Mavericks. He scored 44 points in a March 1 contest against the Golden State Warriors and then scored 46 points in a March 17 matchup with the Houston Rockets. He showed what he was capable of during that second half run and one has to wonder now if he can make that work with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey.