Quentin Grimes signs $8.7 million qualifying offer with 76ers - ESPN

Restricted free agent Quentin Grimes has signed a one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer to return to the Philadelphia 76ers, agent David Bauman told ESPN on Wednesday.

Grimes, who averaged career highs in points (14.6), rebounds (4.3), assists (3) and steals (1) last season, will now have the ability to veto all trades during the 2025-26 season and will enter unrestricted free agency next summer when at least 10 teams are slated to have significant salary cap space.

After Grimes' side indicated it desired a contract in the $30 million range early in free agency and then a deal at around $20 million to $25 million, the two sides never found traction on a new agreement this offseason ahead of Wednesday's 11:59 p.m. ET deadline for the qualifying offer.

Bauman said the Sixers' first formal proposal of the offseason came Sept. 24 — nearly three months into free agency — with a four-year, $39 million offer. Days later, Grimes was offered a one-year, $8.8 million deal that gave him $100,000 more than his qualifying offer in order to waive an inherent no-trade clause. Those frameworks were declined, Bauman said, and negotiations never advanced.

On Wednesday, Bauman said Grimes' side offered the 76ers a one-year framework at $17 million while waiving the no-trade clause and a two-year deal at $34 million with a player option. Both were rejected by the 76ers, Bauman said.

The 76ers selected VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft to bolster their backcourt and have had uncertainty entering the 2025-26 season given the injury concerns from last season surrounding Joel Embiid and Paul George — two factors challenging their ability to provide a high-money proposal to Grimes this offseason. With Grimes now on the