76ers still 'very far apart on a deal' for veteran guard who had career-best stats in Philly

Restricted free agent Quentin Grimes and the Philadelphia 76ers are still “very far apart on a deal” to resolve their summer-long standoff, Shams Charania of ESPN said in an appearance on "NBA Today."

Agent David Bauman told Charania that Wednesday was the first time the team made a “formal, hard offer” since free agency began. Bauman said Grimes won’t attend Philadelphia’s media day on Friday and he doesn’t plan to accompany the team this weekend to Abu Dhabi, where they’ll play two preseason games against the Knicks.

Charania points out that the Sixers have less incentive to offer a lengthy contract to Grimes after landing dynamic shooting guard VJ Edgecombe in the draft. Coupled with uncertainty over the health of stars Joel Embiid and Paul George, Philadelphia may not want to add another expensive deal to its payroll.

Charania suggests that the likely resolution appears to be Grimes either accepting the team’s $8.7M qualifying offer, or possibly a larger one-year deal where Grimes would waive his no-trade clause. Either way, he would become an unrestricted free agent next summer when more teams will have money to spend.