Nick Nurse Talks Reintegrating Quentin Grimes into Sixers' System

The main cloud that remained above the Philadelphia 76ers' head throughout the offseason was regarding their restricted free agent Quentin Grimes and whether or not the two sides could agree to a new contract. Despite there being several months before the upcoming season, the 24-year-old ended up picking his qualifying offer for the 2025-26 campaign.

OFFICIAL: we have re-signed Quentin Grimes pic.twitter.com/giCmgRbHlM
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) October 1, 2025

How has he been reintegrated with his teammates?

However, this was decided after the Sixers had held their first two practices of the season, as well as their flight to the Middle East, where they partook in two matches of the NBA's Abu Dhabi Games. While this would be an issue for getting the 24-year-old up to speed with what his teammates have been learning so far, the Sixers' head coach explained that Grimes had been putting in the work while the team was away.

"He's certainly behind with a lot of the things we're doing; we obviously changed a lot of things we're doing, and he's got to catch up with that," Nurse explained to the press on Wednesday. "But even these last couple of days, we had a couple of coaches back that we're putting him through all that stuff, you know, in a group setting, even though he was the only player out there, they fill in all the other spots to get him up to speed as fast as he can."

The 25-year-old has quite a few things to adjust to when it comes to the layout of the Sixers' backcourt, given the introduction of rookie VJ Edgecombe to the system, as well as the return of Jared McCain, who is currently out recovering from a procedure to repair damage to his thumb.

How does he look?

Quentin Grimes putting up some shots pic.twitter.com/br1ExAgdUZ
— Declan Harris (@DecIanH) October 8, 2025

When it comes to Grimes' overall fitness and sharpness on the court, Nurse was impressed, explaining that it had been apparent that he had been putting in work during the offseason amid the contract standoff.

"He's explosive and athletic, he was energetic today, he played hard, and he looked like he's been working out. I haven't seen him, he's had a couple of shooting sessions here, while we were gone, and they did report that he was looking good," Nurse stated. "There was a lot of live action out there today, and it didn't look like it was his first day, so he's in decent shape and again, he's in decent shape and very energetic and bouncy."

While nothing is certain, Grimes' first opportunity to appear for the Sixers in the preseason will come on Friday when the Orlando Magic visit the Xfinity Mobile Arena.

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