The Philadelphia 76ers pulled off a move at the deadline to send Caleb Martin to the Dallas Mavericks to bring in Quentin Grimes and a second-round pick. At the time of the deal, Martin was dealing with hip and groin injuries and the Sixers were able to bring in Grimes who is five years younger.
Since the deadline, Grimes has proven to be a terrific addition. He averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while shooting 37.3% from deep in 28 games with 25 starts. He was terrific for the Sixers and when considering the fact that Martin only played 14 games for the Mavs after the trade, one has to wonder what Dallas GM Nico Harrison was thinking.
Harrison spoke with the Dallas media in a closed doors presser which was transcribed completely by Dallas’ local ABC news station. He explained his decision to send Grimes to the Sixers:
Well, it was really about getting Caleb Martin. It was less about Grimes. We, obviously, we traded for Grimes, and we got a good look at Grimes. Great player. I think it worked out for both teams. It worked out for him. He’s a free agent situation, so we got to go to a team where he could shoot all the balls and really display his offense. And for us, we weren’t interested in that. We were interested in how he could help us win games. And we had the opportunity to get Caleb, which the opportunity only afford itself because Anthony Davis, he gave us that ability, because he had a trade clause, a trade kicker, and he opted out of that. And so that gave us the room to be able to do that.
Yes, Grimes will be a free agent while Martin has three years left on his deal, but it didn’t make much sense for the Mavericks then and it looks even awful now. Grimes was fantastic for Philadelphia as he was able to show off his ability to be a No. 1 option should the time call for it. Harrison will be judged more for the questionable Luka Doncic trade, but the Grimes deal is certainly a head-scratcher as well. The Sixers will certainly take it, though.