By Adam Aaronson

Copyright phillyvoice

Somehow, it is time for the penultimate Sixers mailbag of the 2025 offseason, with training camp nearing closer and closer.

And somehow, the leading question is still about the lack of movement on restricted free agent Quentin Grimes.

Time to dive in:

From @flyingchairs.bsky.social: What the heck is going on with Grimes?

As best as anyone has been able to tell of report, there is still absolutely nothing going on with Grimes, even though we are now just days away from training camp. Many Sixers are in Philadelphia for the final weeks leading up to camp and the team’s preseason trip to Abu Dhabi, but there is zero clarity as to whether or not the team is even close to finding common ground on a new contract with their 25-year-old restricted free agent.

The Sixers remain positioned to secure a team-friendly commitment from Grimes, because there is no market for him and the Sixers hold his rights. He has until Oct. 1 to accept his qualifying offer, a one-year pact that comes with a no-trade clause and pathway to unrestricted free agency next summer. Very few players have actually been willing to take that measure to grasp firm ownership of their own future; the ones who have done it have not exactly ended up faring well. Grimes has made about $11 million in four years and been traded three times. Taking the qualifying offer on a team with three higher-priority guards is a massively risky idea.

My anticipation leading up to free agency was that Grimes’ eventual contract would be one of the better ones in the NBA from a roster-building perspective and that it would take a long time to get done. I did not necessarily see Grimes going into the middle of September without a deal or even any quiet whispers about one, but this is not an unprecedented dynamic.

In fact, this is among the most likely outcomes when a player hits restricted free agency, particularly in a market with next to no cap space. Unlike the Chicago Bulls, whose standoff with restricted free agent Josh Giddey finally came to an end last week when the guard inked a four-year, $100 million deal — far beyond what any other team could have realistically offered — the Sixers do not appear primed to succumb to pressure. The ball is in Grimes’ court, but all of the leverage belongs to the Sixers. They know it.

MORE: Why should anyone care about the Sixers?

From @lukelesher.bsky.social: What are the chances that Andre Drummond can get back to a high-caliber backup center? Was his performance a reflection of the circumstances that was last year, or is Adem Bona in line to take that job to start the season?

Crazier things have happened, but I am not anticipating Drummond bouncing back to that degree. I would expect him to be better in 2025-26 than he was in his first full season with the Sixers, though, as a long-term toe injury might have been a significant driver of his particularly damaging immobility.

Drummond could return to being a viable backup center next season, especially if he gets back to being the best rebounder in the NBA as he was for several years before 2024-25. But for now, I am operating as if Bona is the clear leader in the clubhouse to back up Joel Embiid. Bona racked up plenty of valuable minutes as a rookie, clearly got much better as the year went on and did a lot to earn some trust from his coaches on both ends of the floor.

While Drummond’s contractual status makes him an extremely likely trade candidate, Bona has a chance to cement himself as a long-term fixture of the Sixers’ center rotation. The team should give him every chance to do so.

When the Sixers began last season’s training camp in The Bahamas, Drummond announced himself as a passionate fan of Bona’s work ethic and motor. He was excited to help mentor the rookie and watch Bona’s development accelerate. What did Drummond make of Bona’s first NBA campaign?

“His confidence is where he’s grown the most. He’s like a sponge,” Drummond said. “Anything that the coaches tell him or I tell him or any of the other vets tell him, he [takes] it in and then he tries to apply it… whether we’re in practice with the game. He does a very good job of applying it, and with that tool, I think he’s going to be very successful in this league. His motor is higher than anybody I’ve seen in my time and his want to be good is really going to take him far.”

SIXERS PLAYER PREVIEWS

Adem Bona | Andre Drummond

From @kellenpastore.bsky.social: Which player on this year’s Sixers do you think will give the best quotes?

The word “best” could have many different interpretations, and the answers to this question vary depending on the one you choose. If you are wondering which player will provide the most frequent humor and amusement with their quotes, I can confidently say Kelly Oubre Jr. is the guy.

The Sixers have quite a few good quotes on their roster. VJ Edgecombe and Jared McCain are both fascinating to listen to because of their unabashed self-belief; it is even more interesting because the two guards present their confident demeanors in completely different ways. When Embiid is talking about basketball, the results are often compelling. The same is the case for Kyle Lowry, a true basketball savant.

One other player I am intrigued to hear from in 2025-26 is two-way power forward Jabari Walker, whose media availability over the summer was quite impressive. Walker is the son of an NBA veteran and he sounds like one himself. Walker’s mature perspective showed itself when he was asked about the overwhelming sense of surprise around the league that he ended up signing a two-way contract rather than a standard deal:

“The plan that I had for myself, I didn’t see two-way at all. I didn’t think that would be a position I was in. But you know the market and just feedback, it doesn’t lie. So whether that’s things I need to be doing better or whether it’s just situation, it all led to me being here and I’m just grateful for this moment because a lot of people don’t even have this. I’m friends with old teammates that aren’t even in the league anymore and I’m talking to them and they’re like, ‘Man, take advantage of what you have in front of you.’ So yes, the goal is to [get] the [standard] contract, but just me being here and being part of a team that wants to win and playing with all these amazing guys, I think I’m just grateful to be here.”

MORE: Take PhillyVoice’s 2025-26 Sixers survey