76ers Predicted to Sign 22-PPG Scorer to 3-Year, $45 Million Deal in Free Agency

76ers Predicted to Sign 22-PPG Scorer to 3-Year, $45 Million Deal in Free Agency originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Philadelphia 76ers are poised to put one of the more interesting teams on an NBA court next season, led by a guard-heavy roster with elite-level talent that is also among the most injury-prone in the league.

Where the 76ers can ultimately go in an Eastern Conference that looks pretty wide open is going to come down to the health of former MVP Joel Embiid. How Paul George, 35, looks after playing just 41 games last season is going to matter, too, though to a lesser extent.

If Embiid can get back to a level of health that allows him to play a number of contests that totals in the mid-to-high 60s, Philadelphia has the pieces to compete at the top of the East. Among those pieces are recent All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey, second-year combo guard Jared McCain and rookie shooting guard VJ Edgecombe, the No. 3 overall pick in this year's draft.

Given that so much of the team's top youth is already allocated to its backcourt, one could argue the 76ers should focus on adding more front-court depth this summer. However, the team actually parted ways with forward Guerschon Yabusele this summer to clear a path to re-signing shooting guard Quentin Grimes.

Grimes exploded across 28 games down the stretch last season after the Dallas Mavericks shipped him and a second-round pick to Philadelphia in a trade for forward Caleb Martin. Grimes scored an average of 21.9 points per contest for the 76ers over that span, adding 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals in 33.7 minutes per night. He also shot north of 37% from behind the 3-point line.

The caveat is that Grimes achieved those numbers on a losing team that systematically shut down its best players due to injury concerns and in the hope of holding onto its first-round pick, which was top-six protected.

Still, Tim Bontemps of ESPN predicted on the Tuesday, July 15 edition of the "Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective" podcast that Philadelphia will ultimately ink Grimes to a three-year contract in the range of $45 million.

"I have thought the whole summer this is going to end with him signing a probably two- or three-year deal for a little bit over the mid-level [exception]," Bontemps said. "If he gets something like three [years] for $45 [million] ... I think that's a deal that makes sense for everybody."

Grimes will play next season, his fifth in the NBA, at 25 years old. The Los Angeles Clippers drafted him No. 25 overall in 2021 and subsequently traded him to the New York Knicks.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 15, 2025, where it first appeared.