Trade & FA 2024-25:

[F Gump]

Even if Grimes wants a lot more than the MLE, which will be difficult for him to find given the lack of cap space available this summer, the Mavs can just match any contract he’s given.

The ability to match matters most when a player is max-worthy, or close to it. But with an MLE player like him, what do you do if some team offers him way more than you feel he's worth? Do you match and end up with a bad, cap-clogging contract? And what he THINKS he is worth will tend to factor into the picture too. So an accurate player evaluation is huge. (But it also helps if few teams will have cap room for over-MLE offers.)

To me, Grimes is a lot like Josh Green was. Sometimes, he looks like he can be a good player. Other times, he spares it up and it feels like his ceiling is "limited minutes backup." In theory, you want to keep him no matter what because you need talent, but it's going to be real easy to end up with a bad contract you regret.