The summer-long standoff between Quentin Grimes and the Philadelphia 76ers recently came to an end when the restricted free agent relented and signed the 1-year $8.7 million qualifying offer. The deal has a no-trade clause and it makes him an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026.
Grimes was acquired at the deadline from the Dallas Mavericks and he averaged 21.9 points in 28 games with the Sixers. He did an excellent job of taking advantage of the opportunity presented in front of him and showing off the total package of his game and he wanted to be paid what he was worth.
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Unfortunately for Grimes, the restricted free agency market was dried up and there was no real reason for the Sixers to make any real offer.
Per Jake Fischer via Marc Stein’s substack:
On the flip side: Grimes took his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer in Philadelphia because the Sixers did not think he was worth close to the $25 million annual salary range that the Grimes camp was seeking.
The sides were so far apart, sources say, that Philadelphia saw little need all summer to make an offer of any kind to Grimes until the week before training camps opened.
It was truly just an unfortunate position for Grimes to be in as he entered free agency. Being restricted limited him in a lot of ways and the Sixers weren’t just going to give in if there wasn’t anybody else to battle with for Grimes’ services. One has to wonder how this upcoming season will play out for him before he enters free agency once again–as an unrestricted free agent this time–in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Reported details emerge on Quentin Grimes accepting qualifying offer