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Daryl Morey Speaks on Guerschon Yabusele Departure and Quentin Grimes Outlook
By Sean Barnard
Published:
Ten of the 14 players who were on last year’s opening night roster for the Philadelphia 76ers are expected to be back this season. Two of the exceptions to this category are Guerschon Yabusele and Quentin Grimes.
Yabusele was a late addition after a standout performance at the Olympics with France. He signed a minimum deal and was one of the biggest bright spots in a lifeless season. Grimes came over at the trade deadline in a deal with the Dallas Mavericks that sent out Caleb Martin after he had signed as an offseason free agent. Grimes is currently a restricted free agent with all signs pointing toward him returning to Philadelphia, but he remains unsigned at this point.
Daryl Morey took some time to speak with reporters out in Las Vegas for NBA summer league and addressed a variety of topics surrounding the state of the current team. You can check out the full transcript from Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice, and one area where Morey particularly provided clarity was on the negotiations with Yabusele, who joined the Knicks:
“Yeah, that sucked. Again, we got several questions on restricted free agency, I do think that overall structure played into that. We offered [Yabusele] the most we could that wouldn’t limit us and our ability to retain Quentin. That was above minimum. I’ve seen reports saying that, that wasn’t [true], but it was definitely below what he ended up getting. I think people have said that created a challenge for us, and it’s true. So we want to retain Quentin. We hope to work that out with his representation, and our focus was on making sure that happens. That did impact what we could offer Guerschon,” Morey told reporters.
While many Sixers fans were quick to raise their torches and pitchforks in frustration with Daryl Morey over Yabusele leaving, there is truth to the structure of the contracts being the true reason for this. It is also noteworthy for Morey to mention that they offered above a minimum contract for the 29-year-old. There were reports indicating this was the case, and Yabusele added some fuel to the fire, saying the Sixers almost didn’t make an offer, and when they did, it was like they did not truly want him to stay:
Morey had been open about his desire to keep Yabusele in Philadelphia long term since they elected to keep him at this year’s trade deadline. The Sixers President of Basketball Operations has told the media on several occasions that they believed they were in good standing on that front, but the true hurdle they could not clear was the order of operations that the salary cap gymnastics needed to be completed in.
Grimes, who is still just 25 years old and averaged 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists on fairly efficient shooting splits across his 28 games in Philadelphia, was rightfully looked at as the priority this offseason. But his restricted free agent status complicated the situation. The Sixers are not the only team dealing with this frustration. The benefit of restricted free agency is the team has a chance to match any offer other teams elect to send that player’s direction. In theory, it is designed for players to chase what their market value is and then the team can decide if they are willing to pay this. The Sixers also hold Grimes’ full Bird Rights, so in this case they could legally match any offer without putting themselves in too difficult of a salary cap outlook.
The restricted free agent market has been outright dead this offseason. This has been seen with Josh Giddy in Chicago, Cam Thomas in Brooklyn, and Jonathan Kuminga in Golden State. There simply is not the available cap space out there around the league for teams to put competitive offers on the table. Organizations are also not overly motivated to make the prerequisite moves necessary to put together these offers when the general assumption is this player’s current team will just match the offer anyway. This is largely an effect of the new CBA with teams operating with an increased focus on keeping their books clean. In the long run, this will likely work out in the Sixers’ favor as they should be able to ink Grimes to a contract below what his true value may be and well below the $25 million annually he was reportedly seeking. But it takes time for this process to play itself out as Grimes’ camp will attempt to spark interest from teams around the league to drive up the price point up while Morey plays the waiting game:
In the meantime, Yabusele signed a two-year deal with the New York Knicks worth just shy of $12 million. This was close to the full taxpayer mid-level exception which is a resource the Sixers could have theoretically exercised. But using this would have hard capped the Sixers at the second apron, which was a risk they were not willing to take. If they did chose to go this direction and set a hard number that they could not exceed on their books, another NBA team could have gotten creative to position themselves to offer Grimes a deal the Sixers would not be able to legally match. Morey could not in good conscience move forward in a deal with Yabusele without having a clear picture of what Grimes will sign for. If these order of operations were reversed, the pathway to keeping both players was there. But this was beyond Morey’s control.
From Yabusele’s perspective, you cannot blame him for taking more money that was directly on the table rather than waiting on the Sixers in blind faith. It is worth noting that the former 16th overall pick in the 2016 draft was waived by the Boston Celtics after just 74 games across two seasons, last playing in 2018-19. He spent time playing in France, Spain, China, and Turkey trying to earn another chance at the NBA. Philadelphia gave him his second chance last year on a minimum $2.1 million deal, but it makes sense for him to maximize his earnings now. Yabusele seemed to genuinely enjoy Philadelphia and all things equal likely would have returned. But he also would be returning to mostly the same roster which went 24-58 last season and he looked like the team’s best player on certain nights.
It’s disappointing Yabusele is not returning, but this is not a situation that should inspire frustration on either side. There is some extra sting of him signing with the Knicks, who eliminated this Sixers team from the playoffs one season ago and are coming off an Eastern Conference Finals trip. The Frenchman will now succumb to evil and unfortunately be a very useful rotation player for New York.
The Sixers will continue to wait out negotiations with Grimes and hope the career-best stretch he showed to close the season is sustainable. There were some really impressive performances by Grimes and he has shown flashes across his four-year career. But Philadelphia already marks his fourth team in as many seasons. There looks to be mutual interest between Grimes and the Sixers but the complicated restricted free agent market paired with his unique career trajectory has not helped the two sides settle on what a fair contract looks like. Count on Grimes being back in a Sixers uniform eventually, and thanks to Yabusele for doing his best to make last year’s Sixers season tolerable.
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.