Mavericks' disastrous Quentin Grimes trade erupts with blood-boiling new detail

Dallas Mavericks fans are going to be heartbroken forever about the Luka Doncic trade, as Nico Harrison gave up on the team's franchise cornerstone out of nowhere less than a year after he led the Mavs to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2011, and the negative effects of the trade have been mounting ever since it went down.

From fans being more disengaged and angrier than ever to the team missing the playoffs and more, Dallas can't catch a break when it comes to everything that has come along with the most shocking trade in NBA history.

While the 2024-25 Mavericks season will always be remembered for the Doncic trade and everything that has come along with it, Harrison made another trade a few days later that fans were extremely frustrated about as well. Dallas traded Quentin Grimes to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caleb Martin, and just like the Doncic trade, this trade hasn't worked out for the Mavericks either.

Mavericks disrespected Quentin Grimes from the start

Martin was disappointing (and battling injuries) in most of his 14 appearances for Dallas, as he averaged 5.4 points per game while shooting an abysmal 25 percent from downtown, while Grimes played excellently in Philly and proved the doubters wrong. Grimes averaged 21.9 points per game for the Sixers while shooting 37.3 percent from downtown, and he silenced any narrative that suggested Martin was the better player in that deal.

Harrison was among the people who believed Martin was the better player than Grimes, as he had visions of Martin emerging as an elite perimeter defender on the Mavericks in the playoffs and beyond, and a recent rumor revealed a key detail from Grimes' time in Dallas that will boil Mavericks fans' blood.

According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Mavericks never offered Grimes a contract (subscription required) worth $10 million before the October deadline to sign him to an extension, exposing just how poorly the Mavs handled that situation.

Dallas knew Grimes was going to be a restricted free agent after the season, and they could have gotten ahead of the game by signing him to an extension before the season began. Grimes had proven that he was worth at least $10 million per season before he even played a game as a Maverick, and the fact that Harrison and the Mavs didn't even offer him a contract of that size is mind-boggling.

To make matters worse, they traded him at the deadline, partially due to the belief they couldn't re-sign him in the summer in a deal for a worse player. Dallas knew that he was going to be a free agent after the season, and if they were so focused on winning right now, Grimes should never have been moved. Grimes never asked out of Dallas, despite some rumors circulating at the trade deadline, and the Mavs will have to watch from the sidelines when it comes to his development over the years.

All of the signs were on the table before Grimes played a single game as a Maverick that he was going to be a great fit on both ends of the floor, and Dallas low-balling him before the season began makes matters worse. It doesn't seem like they were ever serious about keeping Grimes in Dallas beyond the 2024-25 season, and they'll be paying for it for years to come as he looks to be developing into a star with the Sixers.