The Utah Jazz saved a fair amount of money from trading John Collins yesterday. Doing so actually makes him a cap space team going forward and could add more if they want to. While they could simply preserve the cap for next season, another option could be to add one of the NBA's late-season breakout stars: Quentin Grimes.
Grimes took it to another level when the Philadelphia 76ers acquired him at the trade deadline. In 28 games, he averaged nearly 22 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists while shooting nearly 47% from the field and 37.3% from three. He's also only 25 years old.
Because he's a restricted free agent, the Sixers can match any offer Grimes signs, but that might not stop the Jazz from trying. PhillyVoice's Adam Aaronson outlined how the Jazz could actually make an offer rich enough to make the Sixers sweat.
"If the Jazz wanted to offer Grimes a four-year, $80 million contract, they would need about $18.6 million in cap space. At that point an offer with annual raises of five percent gets them there," Aaronson wrote. Note: he also explained that if the Jazz waive KJ Martin and Jaden Springer (coincidentally ex-Sixers), that would bump them up to $18.7 million in cap space.
It doesn't stop there though. Aaronson further explained what other moves Utah can make to up the price on Grimes.
"But if Utah makes further cost-cutting moves — waiving and stretching (Kevin) Love adds another $2.8 million or so, while trading (Kyle) Anderson's $9.2 million salary for as little money as possible would be the most aggressive financially-motivated decision they can make — they suddenly become more dangerous. What if Utah gets up to $25 million in space and offers Grimes a deal starting there? It could get up to four years and $107 million, a massive price."
That's a lot of maneuvering around the cap to get such a deal done, but that is part of what makes the NBA salary cap kind of fun. We've seen teams take these steps to get the guys they want. Look at what Milwaukee did to get Myles Turner.
But is it worth all that much hassle for Grimes? A solid player who's young, but not super young, but has proven himself to be above average, albeit for one of the worst teams in the NBA last year. Honestly, if the Jazz did something like that, fans could reasonably talk themselves into adding Grimes.
For the record, Aaronson reported that for the time being, Utah hasn't expressed interest in Grimes.
"There is no indication so far that Utah has interest in Grimes, but if they do want to make a run at him, there is a world where they can make the Sixers awfully nervous."
Utah has done something like this before to specifically Philadelphia
The Jazz have forced the Sixers' hand before when they signed Paul Reed to a multiyear contract that was tough for them to match, but they chose to do so anyway. The difference between then and is that Reed wouldn't have cost that much had Philadelphia elected to let him go, but Grimes would require plenty of cap gymnastics to make this even a remote possibility.
That's the kind of privilege a rebuilding team like Utah has over a team with playoff aspirations like Philadelphia. They can force their hand. The other consideration is, the only way the Jazz would do something like this is if they were all in on adding Grimes and were confident they would add him.
As Aaronson alluded to, they aren't, but since teams play the long game with their restricted free agents, there's no reason not to sweep this possibility under the rug.