Quentin Grimes accepts qualifying offer, returns to 76ers

Quentin Grimes will return to Philadelphia on a one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer, agent David Bauman told Shams Charania of ESPN.

Grimes, 25, averaged career highs of 14.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal last season.

By signing the qualifying offer, he will hold veto power on any trades during the 2025–26 season and can enter unrestricted free agency next summer, when at least 10 teams are projected to have meaningful cap space.

Negotiations between the two sides never gained traction, Charania wrote. Bauman said the 76ers’ first formal offer didn’t come until Sept. 24, nearly three months into free agency, with a four-year, $39 million framework.

Philadelphia then floated a one-year, $8.8 million deal — $100,000 above the qualifying offer — that would have required Grimes to waive his no-trade clause. Both were declined.

Grimes’ camp countered with a one-year, $17 million offer that waived the no-trade clause and a two-year, $34 million deal with a player option. The Sixers rejected both, Bauman said.

Philadelphia selected VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick to bolster its backcourt, but injuries to Joel Embiid and Paul George last season created uncertainty about the team’s willingness to commit big money this summer.

By retaining Grimes on the qualifying offer, the Sixers keep his Bird rights and maintain the option to negotiate a new deal or work out a sign-and-trade next offseason.

Grimes thrived following a midseason trade from Dallas, averaging 21.9 points and 4.5 assists in 28 games for the Sixers.

He notched five 30-point outings and two 40-point games, and is expected to play a major role early this season with Jared McCain sidelined four to six weeks following thumb surgery.

The former No. 25 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft spent his first two seasons with the Knicks before being dealt to Detroit, then Dallas, and finally Philadelphia between 2023 and 2025.

He was the last restricted free agent to sign this offseason, following Josh Giddey’s four-year, $100 million deal with the Bulls, Cam Thomas’ qualifying offer with the Nets, and Jonathan Kuminga’s two-year, $48.5 million contract with the Warriors.

This summer’s restricted free agent market moved slowly, with Brooklyn essentially the only team with real cap space, creating a logjam that stretched into late September.