For anyone who hasn’t checked up on these front lines in a while, not much has changed.
NBA insider Jake Fischer dropped some news on his Bleacher Report livestream regarding the ongoing restricted free agency stare-off still happening with a few teams, including the Sixers with guard Quentin Grimes. In comparison to Chicago Bulls restricted free agent Josh Giddey, Fischer said that Grimes “allegedly has the chance to take the qualifying offer.”
He cited Philadelphia’s fit concerns with Grimes as reasons this is possible as opposed to other restricted free agents still on the board.
“I think there’s chance because, unlike Josh Giddy, unlike Jonathan Kuminga, even though Philadelphia traded for Grimes,” Fischer said, “the Sixers are a contending team that has a lot of players in the backcourt at a similar position to Quentin Grimes.” You can listen to the full live stream here. Fischer gets into the Grimes situation around the 24-minute mark.
Taking the qualifying offer would be a gamble on both the part of the Sixers and Grimes. If he were to do so, he’d play next year on a one-year contract before entering unrestricted free agency, with the Sixers also losing the Bird rights to him if they wanted to re-sign him next summer. Grimes may want to bet on himself again when more teams will have cap space next summer. Fischer points out he expects five-to-six teams to have a lot of money as opposed to just the Brooklyn Nets this summer.
The risk for Grimes is that the backcourt he’ll play in projects to be a lot more crowded than the one he played and dominated in towards the end of last season. As Fischer points out, he’ll presumably be fighting both a healthy Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain, as well as No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe, for high quality minutes.
As the beginning of the season draws nearer though, that gamble becomes more tempting with teams not really coming down from their offers. Cam Thomas of the Nets signed for the qualifying offer last week. Despite more talk that this could be an option for Grimes as well, it doesn’t appear to have changed what the Sixers are willing to offer. Fischer says he doesn’t necessarily see Philadelphia “balking at Grimes’ asking price.”
While it appears the Sixers’ front office is fully entrenched in the waiting game, Fischer did hint at other moves they could make that would have an impact on a Grimes resolution.
“There has been buzz all summer long about the Sixers potentially looking to move one of if not both Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre,” Fischer said. “If they are able to find a deal for one of those two guys as we get closer to camp that would open up some more wiggle room for Philadelphia to be able to pay Grimes a little bit more than what he’s looking for right now and what that qualifying offer would be.”
With media day and training camps just weeks away, time is running out for this situation to be resolved and get everyone ready for opening night.