Quentin Grimes hopes to bring foundation he built with Knicks to Sixers for rest of season

NEW YORK — As Nick Nurse chugged up the infamous ramp that leads from Madison Square Garden’s loading dock up to the court level, the 76ers coach asked Quentin Grimes how long he played for the Knicks.

“Three years?” Nurse responded when Grimes answered his new coach. “You’re getting old.”

Grimes returned to the arena where he began his NBA career Wednesday, finishing with three points on 1-of-4 shooting in 20 minutes of the Sixers’ 110-105 loss. That the bulk of the Knicks’ roster has already turned over since he was traded from New York to the Detroit Pistons at the 2024 deadline means the 24-year-old shooting guard did not expect an elaborate reunion. Yet he still relishes the foundation he built by beginning his career with that storied franchise, which he and the Sixers hope he can apply for the rest of this season — and, perhaps, beyond.

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“Earning that trust from Thibs [Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau] and just kind of establishing yourself as a player,” Grimes said when asked about his Knicks memories before Wednesday’s shootaround. “… Really seeing my development every year here, and really kind of [moving] on [to] bigger things.”

Grimes’ role since he was acquired by the Sixers at the trade deadline earlier this month remains a work in progress. That was apparent Wednesday, when he started in the backcourt and then became the primary ball handler during Tyrese Maxey’s second-quarter rest. But Grimes, who had left Monday’s blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls when knee tendinitis flared up, did not play down the stretch against the Knicks. Those minutes instead went to rookie Justin Edwards, who played the entire fourth quarter in his first game back from a sprained ankle.

Overall, though, Grimes has flashed offensive talent, scoring in double figures in each of his first six games with the Sixers — including a 30-point outburst during a Feb. 12 loss at the Brooklyn Nets. He also has displayed an ability to hound opposing ball handlers, especially as part of the crunch-time group that rallied during Saturday’s rematch against the Nets before losing on a Nic Claxton putback buzzer-beater.

Grimes said Wednesday morning that he initially embraced the defensive end of the floor about six months into his college basketball stint at Houston, where “you’ve got to play defense at 110%, or Coach [Kelvin] Sampson’s going to expose you.”

“But once I got it, it was kind of just smooth sailing from there,” Grimes said. “Lock in. Give it 110% every time, and then he lets you do whatever you want offensively.”

So being traded to the Knicks after the Clippers drafted him 25th overall in 2021 almost made too much sense, because Thibodeau is “essentially the same person” when it comes to defensive mentality, Grimes said. He called his former coach a perfectionist, preparing the Knicks for “every offensive set the [opposing] team runs, [and] defensively, every scheme that we could possibly throw at a team.”

“How he goes about everyday work,” Grimes added of Thibodeau, “it kind of sticks with me every time I step on the court.”

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Thibodeau, in turn, described Grimes as a “great person, hard worker, [and] strong on both sides of the ball” during his pregame news conference. Grimes credits Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier as early mentors during his stint in New York, and shouted out the Garden’s raucous fan base. He averaged 8.2 points on 37.9% shooting from three-point range, along with 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists, in 162 games with 90 starts for the Knicks, and said he felt “a little more freedom” to make plays and score as each season progressed.

“He obviously made some shots and was competitive and all that kind of stuff,” Nurse said when asked about scouting the younger Grimes as an opposing coach. “[He] was on the scouting report. You had to play him, get out to him, especially from his three-point shooting.”

Grimes’ numbers, however, dipped significantly from his second NBA season (11.3 points per game on 46.8% shooting) to his third with the Knicks (7.3 points on 39.5% shooting). He lost his starting spot to former Villanova star Donte DiVincenzo. And though Grimes was part of the Knicks’ initial surge up the Eastern Conference standings — on a team defined by its hustle and rugged style — he became part of the trade-deadline package to acquire Bojan Bogdanovic for their playoff push.

Grimes has been on three teams since then. He played in only six games with the Pistons before getting shut down with a knee issue. In July, he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, a team that had just advanced to the NBA Finals, and shot nearly 40% from three-point range while averaging 10.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 47 games. Then, days after the Mavericks’ stunning trade of Luka Doncic, they also moved Grimes to the Sixers in exchange for Caleb Martin and draft compensation. Grimes will be a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the Sixers could match any contract offer from another team.

Adding Grimes is part of the Sixers’ more deliberate shift to a younger, more athletic backcourt alongside Maxey, the NBA’s fifth-leading scorer entering Thursday. Eric Gordon underwent wrist surgery Wednesday, while fellow veteran Kyle Lowry remains sidelined with a hip issue. The Sixers also traded Reggie Jackson to the Washington Wizards for Jared Butler. Nurse initially projected Butler to play the six-minute spurts when Maxey rested at the top of the second and third quarters, but Butler has not been in the recent rotation.

Before the loss to the Knicks, Nurse called Grimes’ backup point guard potential “just a good possibility” that needs more evaluation. Maxey then played the final 33 minutes against New York, even with a sprained right little finger he acknowledges is impacting his shooting (0-for-10 from three-point range) and ball handling.

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Grimes, meanwhile, received a smattering of applause when introduced as part of the Sixers’ starting lineup before Wednesday’s tipoff. Inside the visitors’ locker room after the game, he caught up with a few Knicks and arena staffers.

Though playing inside the Garden juices up most NBA players, returning to basketball’s Mecca held even more significance for Grimes. It is where he began his NBA career, and first built his foundation that he now hopes to bring to his new team the rest of the season.

“Trying to earn minutes,” Grimes said of his time in New York. “Go out there and play hard and shoot open shots when you’re open, and just try to make the right play.”