{"id":168714,"date":"2025-09-25T19:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168714\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T19:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:00:10","slug":"contract-dispute-causes-quentin-grimes-to-skip-sixers-abu-dhabi-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/168714\/","title":{"rendered":"Contract dispute causes Quentin Grimes to skip Sixers’ Abu Dhabi trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quentin Grimes will not attend the 76ers<\/a>\u2019 media day on Friday or travel with the team to Abu Dhabi for two preseason games next week, his agent, David A. Bauman, confirmed to The Inquirer on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It is the latest turn in Grimes\u2019 prolonged saga in restricted free agency, in which both sides remain \u201cvery far apart,\u201d<\/a> a source familiar with the negotiations said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bauman said the Sixers\u2019 first formal offer arrived Wednesday, at four years and $39 million. The source familiar with the negotiations slightly pushed back, noting that the Sixers and Bauman have had \u201chours and hours\u201d of discussions this summer and that the Sixers presented rough outlines on what they were willing to offer.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Adem Bona says EuroBasket run with Turkey gives him \u2018playing fuel\u2019 for second NBA season with Sixers<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, it appears more likely that both sides are heading toward some sort of one-year deal. Grimes could accept his $8.7 million qualifying offer, which comes with a no-trade clause. Another option is a one-year \u201cballoon\u201d deal for a higher salary, which would waive Grimes\u2019 no-trade clause. Both would make the shooting guard an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. The deadline to accept the qualifying offer is Wednesday, which Bauman has requested that the Sixers extend.<\/p>\n

Bauman said Grimes\u2019 absence should not be considered a holdout, and will avoid putting the 25-year-old guard in front of reporters with his contract situation still unresolved.<\/p>\n

The agent also does not believe Grimes would have played in the preseason games against the New York Knicks in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 2 and 4, since he has not been participating in informal workouts and pickup games leading into the start of organized practices on Saturday. Grimes is expected to join the team once it returns from overseas.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Sixers bringing back iconic black jerseys as alternate for upcoming season<\/a><\/p>\n

Bauman acknowledged the unfortunate timing of Grimes\u2019 restricted free agency \u2014 both with the Sixers and across the NBA \u2014 after he averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 28 games in a breakout stretch following his trade-deadline acquisition.<\/p>\n

Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond, and Eric Gordon had player options in their contracts entering the offseason. The Sixers\u2019 dreadful 2024-25 season (and draft lottery luck) gave them the opportunity to select VJ Edgecombe<\/a> third overall, with a higher starting salary than lower picks. Edgecombe\u2019s arrival adds another player to the Sixers\u2019 intriguing young backcourt, which includes Tyrese Maxey<\/a> and Jared McCain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This summer\u2019s particularly dire \u2014 and lingering \u2014 restricted free agency market is a ramification of the NBA\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement and \u201capron\u201d penalties that left fewer teams with salary-cap space or the willingness to spend. <\/p>\n

Jonathan Kuminga remains in a very publicized limbo with the Golden State Warriors, while the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 Cam Thomas took his qualifying offer earlier this month. The same week, the Chicago Bulls\u2019 Josh Giddey agreed to a four-year, $100 million deal.<\/p>\n

Bauman believes Grimes also commands an annual salary between $20 million and $25 million, which the Sixers are not willing to offer. Yet even with this \u201cconflict\u201d that restricted free agency can create, the source familiar with the negotiations said, the Sixers view Grimes as a significant part of the team\u2019s future. <\/p>\n

If the sides settle on a one-year deal, the Sixers will still have Grimes\u2019 Bird Rights and an inside track to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent. Additionally, a larger collection of teams is projected to have cap space in the 2026 offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quentin Grimes will not attend the 76ers\u2019 media day on Friday or travel with the team to Abu…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,110481,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-168714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sixers-quentin-grimes-contract-dispute","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}