On the commerce deadline final season, the Philadelphia 76ers made a commerce with the Dallas Mavericks, sending out key position participant Caleb Martin in change for Quentin Grimes and a 2025 second-round choose. On the time, the commerce appeared to present Nick Nurse one more weapon so as to add to his arsenal of younger stars, and Grimes would greater than ship on that.
Following his arrival within the Metropolis of Brotherly Love, the 25-year-old would go on to common 21.9 factors per sport, doing so on 46.9 p.c taking pictures. His scoring output was greater than double what he was placing up throughout his time with the Mavericks, with whom he averaged 10.2 factors per night time.
There was a transparent motive for this enhance in manufacturing, as he would obtain a bigger position on the Sixers, given the accidents to Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Jared McCain, all of whom would obtain a cut up of the 33 minutes per night time that Grimes was averaging.
Other than simply making an attempt his finest on his new staff, there might’ve been one more reason for Grimes’ scoring outbursts, which included two outings of 40 or extra factors; his contract is ready to run out on the finish of the season. The 25-year-old got here to Philadelphia within the final yr of his rookie deal, thus he’s set to change into a restricted free agent, which means that different groups across the league can supply him a contract with the 76ers retaining the choice to match any of these gives.
Whereas Grimes definitely brings mounds of offensive potential to the Sixers’ arsenal, the entrance workplace ought to know his true worth earlier than probably overpaying, which may very well be argued is what occurred to former Philadelphia star Tobias Harris.
To be honest, when Harris made his transfer to the Wells Fargo Middle in February 2019, he wasn’t occupying the identical position as Grimes did, so he did not have an identical enhance in offensive manufacturing. Harris reasonably noticed his scoring numbers dip, whereas he grew to become part of Philadelphia’s roster that will fall brief within the playoffs in opposition to the eventual NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors.
When the low season got here round, Harris was retained whereas fan favourite Jimmy Butler was allowed to stroll in free company, one thing that the Philadelphia trustworthy by no means actually let down over the course of the then-27-year-old’s five-year deal, which was price $180 million. Throughout this five-year stretch, Harris averaged 17.6 factors per sport together with 6.5 rebounds, failing to dwell as much as the 20.9 factors he averaged with the Clippers through the season through which he was traded.
Whereas Grimes does not have any co-stars to be picked over as Harris did, Philadelphia’s entrance workplace ought to be taught from their earlier mistake in probably overpaying, as Grimes might have a extra restricted position subsequent season. It is not recognized if the 25-year-old goes to duplicate his numbers from final season as soon as the aforementioned Maxey, George, and McCain are all wholesome once more, thus they need to have a transparent line within the sand for what they’re keen to spend.
Throughout his end-of-season presser, Nurse talked about how their construction might work if the 25-year-old is introduced again, highlighting that he would function a backup guard alongside McCain. “If all three of them are again, then Grimes and McCain play some backup level guard as properly,” mentioned Nurse.