Former Knick Quentin Grimes playing at high level on injury-riddled 76ers
Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes dunks against the Atlanta Hawks during the first half of an NBA game on March 23 in Atlanta. Credit: AP/Mike Stewart
Here’s something that few Knicks fans would have ever predicted.
The hottest guard to take the floor Tuesday at Madison Square Garden was Quentin Grimes, the former Knick whose stats have been on steroids since shortly after joining the tanking Philadelphia 76ers in February.
In the month of March, Grimes was the NBA’s 11th most prolific scorer, averaging 26.6 points while shooting 50.4%. He’s had four games in that stretch where he scored 30 or more points, including a career-high 46 points against Houston.
That’s a big leap from the numbers Grimes put up in his two-plus years with the Knicks after they obtained the Clippers 26th overall pick in a draft-day trade in 2021.
Grimes averaged 8.6 points and shot 43.6% as a Knick, and was traded to the Detroit Pistons in February of 2023. After the Pistons traded him to the Mavericks in July, he was dealt to the 76ers this past February.
“He’s playing at a very high level,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said before Tuesday’s game. “He can shoot the ball, he can put it on the floor, he’s dangerous in transition. He’s making good plays off the dribble. Defensively, he’s terrific. Very dangerous player on the open floor.
The 6-5, 205-pound guard has thrived as the team’s primary scorer with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George all out as the 76ers hold what some have been calling a master’s class at tanking.
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said what excited him most about Grimes when he came to the team was that he was “a live body.”
“My excitement level this year has a lot to do with availability,” Nurse said. “We’re in a situation where he’s playing about as much as he can handle, like probably sometimes we go over that point. Obviously, lots of opportunity on the offensive end to just kind of go do what he can do.”
Yes, about that opportunity. The fact that he is compiling big time numbers basically playing alongside a bunch of G Leaguers was painfully pointed out a week ago in a mic’d-up moment in the 76ers loss to the Atlanta Hawks. Hawks trash-talking forward Georges Niang, who played in Philadelphia two seasons ago, started yelling at Grimes during the third quarter.
“If Joel was here, your [butt] would be in the corner. [If] Joel [was] here, you’re in the corner. Tyrese here you are in the corner,” Niang could be heard saying on the telecast.
While that observation may be true, Grimes can only control what he does with the situation being handed to him, which is something that was pointed out by Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on Saturday.
“So much about this league is about opportunity, timing, fit,” Spoelstra said before his team handed the Sixers their seventh straight loss. “He’s getting all of it right now in terms of the opportunities, the injuries that they’ve had. He’s proven that you can be a quality rotation guy, you know, in his previous stops. But now he’s proven that, you know, he can be more also.”
Grimes is a restricted free agent and his recent play has widened his options. While he can sign an offer sheet with another team, the 76ers have the ability to match that offer.
Nurse admits that it can be tricky to evaluate a player based on how he is performing in a situation where there are so many injuries to starters.
“I think you have to figure out how that fits with what you possibly could have,” Nurse said. “In our ideal world, he’s not getting this many attempts when we have our three main scorers playing. But in the real world, those guys are in and out. So maybe he can play one role one night and then steps up a role in certain situations.”
How does Grimes think he would play alongside Embiid, Maxey and George?
"I mean, just playing my game,” Grimes told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Whatever opportunity presents itself . . . I obviously showed that with New York and Dallas, and showing a little bit both out here, trying to do whatever I need to do to help the team win, honestly."
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
