Quentin Grimes Emerging as Major Backcourt Piece for Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers traded Caleb Martin and a 2025 second-round pick to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Quentin Grimes ahead of the NBA trade deadline earlier in February. It wasn’t the flashiest move the Sixers could’ve made to spark a playoff push in the second half of a season that’s gone as bad as it could’ve, but Philadelphia added a solid backcourt piece who was shooting a career-best 39.8% from three-point range for a Sixers team that ranks 22nd in the league with a 34.8% team three-point shooting percentage. And through Grimes’ first four games as a member of the 76ers, it’s looking like Philadelphia certainly won this deal and got a much-needed upgrade in the backcourt.
Grimes is averaging ten points and four rebounds on 46.5% shooting from the field this season. He appeared in 47 games for Dallas before being dealt and started 12. Grimes is seeing a much bigger offensive role with Philadelphia than he got with Dallas, playing 30 minutes or more in three of his first four games with the franchise after seeing 30 minutes or more in just six of his 47 games with Dallas this season. In his four games since joining the 76ers, Grimes has scored in double figures in every game, averaging 16.7 points per game on 24-of-50, which is 48% shooting from the field. The 24-year-old made his true entrance to Philadelphia in the 76ers’ most recent game against the Brooklyn Nets on February 13th, where Grimes dropped 30 points, nine rebounds, and four assists on ten-of-eighteen which is 55.5% shooting from the field four-of-nine and 44.4% shooting from the perimeter. Grimes is taking advantage of his elevated role with Philadelphia and looks like another true shooter to take pressure off of Tyrese Maxey and Paul George.
Grimes is in the final year of his four-year, 11$ million rookie deal he signed with the New York Knicks after being selected 25th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers and being dealt to New York for Keon Johnson. Martin was set to earn five million more than Grimes is earning this season, and Grimes will be the tenth player on the Sixers’ payroll who will become a free agent after the end of this season. The Sixers recently converted newly-acquired Jared Butler’s two-way contract to a standard two-year NBA contract but gave themselves some cap flexibility at the deadline. With several expiring deals the Sixers are looking to bring back such as Guerschon Yabusele and Kyle Lowry, the Sixers now have to look at Grimes as a potential young piece for the future. It’s been reported that Grimes and the Sixers have had initial talks of an extension, but not too much ground has been covered in terms of a deal being made.
