Mavs GM Makes Ridiculous Claim to Justify Trading Away Quentin Grimes
The heated feelings of Dallas Mavericks fans towards general manager Nico Harrison haven’t shied away despite his blockbuster move of trading away Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis over two months ago. While Mavs fans don’t feel too fondly of Harrison right now, Philadelphia 76ers fans attribute a lot of thanks to the GM for another move he made. The 76ers acquired Quentin Grimes from Dallas for Caleb Martin at this season’s trade deadline. This trade is looking like a massive win for Philly as Grimes has been fantastic since the acquisition.
Through the 28 games that Grimes played with the 76ers this season, he averaged 21.9 points, five rebounds, and four assists a night on 46.9% shooting from the field and 37.3% shooting from three-point range. On the other hand, Martin is giving Dallas just five points per game on 38.9% shooting in the 14 games he’s played for the franchise. Harrison recently spoke on the acquisition of Martin in exchange for Grimes and tried to defend it. However, the GM seemed to take some shots at Grimes, taking credit away from his stellar play.
“He’s [Grimes] a free agent situation, so we got to go to a team where he could shoot all the balls and display his offense,” Harrison said. “For us, we weren’t interested in that. We were interested in how he could help us win games. We had the opportunity to get Caleb [Martin], which the opportunity only afforded itself because Anthony Davis, gave us that ability because he had a trade clause, a trade kicker, and he opted out of that.”
Harrison gave Grimes credit for his offensive capabilities but seemed to throw a little shade his way that he takes too many shots. However, Grimes’ efficiency since he’s become a member of the 76ers organization says otherwise. This is the most efficient shooting stretch of Grimes’ career based on shooting percentage, and he’s nearly matched his career-high in three-point percentage. Although he’s taking almost double the amount of shots per game with Philadelphia than he’s taken anywhere else, he’s hitting shots at an extremely high clip. Whether Harrison thinks he genuinely won that trade or is trying to sugarcoat it, Daryl Morey and the rest of the Sixers’ staff are happy to have Grimes on board and have the opportunity to extend him this offseason.
