Mar 16, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes (5) looks to score as Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) defends during the first half at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Dallas Mavericks' thoughts on sneaky horrible trade revealed

Originally posted on Dallas Mavericks on SI
By Austin Veazey | Last updated Jul 16, 2025 6:15 PM ET

Everyone remembers where they were when the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. It is arguably the most shocking trade in NBA history. Months later, people still cannot believe Doncic is a Laker.

But another horrible trade happened just a few days later. The Dallas Mavericks sent Quentin Grimes and a 2025 second-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin, who wasn't playing due to a hip injury. That injury was worse than the 76ers let on, so they had to add on a 2030 second-round pick to complete the deal, but the Mavericks still gave up the two more valuable assets.

The second-round pick that Dallas sent to Philly was the 76ers' own initially, and they were tanking because of injuries, so that became the 35th pick, where they selected Auburn star, Johni Broome. Even if a second-round pick is unlikely to crack the rotation, Martin hardly played for the Mavericks, only scoring 75 points in 14 regular-season games for Dallas.

They were trying to get ahead of Grimes' free agency, but he seems more likely to take the cheaper qualifying option because restricted free agents have had no leverage this offseason.

ESPN's Tim MacMahon revealed, however, that the Mavericks' coaches didn't seem to care too much that Nico Harrison traded away Grimes.

"They wanted to give him something like Naji Marshall’s contract, which is three for $27 million. That was a big factor in the Mavericks trading him for Caleb Martin, who’s on the deal in that $8 million per year range," MacMahon started."

“Now that deal blew up in the Mavericks’ face, Caleb Martin was hurt at the time. It pushed them right up against the thing where they couldn’t even sign a guy to another 10-day, so on and so forth. And it looked really bad because Grimes was putting up a ton of points for Philly.

“But I’m just telling you there were Mavericks coaches who were not happy with another trade that the team made and weren’t shy to let me know about it, none of the Mavericks coaches were upset about the Grimes for Martin trade.

“They didn’t really value Grimes long-term, which is a long-winded way of saying if he’s getting something around the mid-level, I think that would be a good deal for him."

Most people would probably rather have Grimes for one year on his qualifying offer and the 35th pick on a cheap contract rather than Martin for three years on his contract, from what he showed last season. Maybe he gets back into his Miami Heat form, but based on the rest of his contract, that seems unlikely.

This article first appeared on Dallas Mavericks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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