A Childhood Photo of Quentin Grimes in Lakers Gear Makes His Free Agency Deal Feel Like Destiny

The Lakers didn’t just sign Quentin Grimes on Monday. They apparently fulfilled a family prophecy that started before he could tie his own sneakers.

Grimes agreed to a four-year deal worth roughly $60 million with Los Angeles on the second day of the NBA’s free agency negotiation window. And almost immediately after the news broke, Grimes posted a throwback photo on social media that made the whole thing feel prewritten.

The image shows a young Grimes standing next to his father, Marshall, both of them decked out in Lakers gear. Not a subtle hint. More like a neon sign.

Marshall Grimes played college basketball at Santa Clara with a guy named Kurt Rambis, who later won four championships as a Lakers forward in the 1980s. So the purple-and-gold allegiance runs deep in that family tree. It’s not hard to connect the dots.

What Grimes brings to the Lakers rotation

Grimes is coming off a quietly solid season with the 76ers. He played 75 games, started 19 of them and averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists while logging about 29 minutes a night. His shooting splits were respectable: 45 percent from the field, 33.4 percent from three and 84 percent from the line.

The 25th overall pick in the 2021 draft can slot right into the Lakers starting lineup unless something else shifts before opening night. He gives them scoring pop on the perimeter and he’s not a liability on defense. That matters for a team trying to maximize its championship window.

Grimes has bounced around a bit since he came into the league. Started with the Knicks. Then Detroit. Then Dallas. Then Philadelphia. The Mavericks traded him to the Sixers the same season they sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers, which was a move that left a lot of people scratching their heads at the time.

Now he’s landing with the franchise his dad helped him root for before he was old enough to understand what a pick-and-roll was.

The Lakers also agreed to terms with Sandro Mamukelashvili and Collin Sexton during the same negotiation window, so they’re not done reshaping the roster. But the Grimes signing feels like the one with a little extra emotional weight.