Quentin Grimes is settling into life with the Los Angeles Lakers, and one part of the move clearly makes him smile: he won’t have to deal with Luka Doncic on the other side anymore.
Grimes talked about Doncic during an appearance on the Mason & Ireland Show, and he didn’t hold back when explaining what makes the Slovenian such a nightmare offensively.
“Nobody in the NBA is really like 6’8″ with that pace,” Grimes said. “And he plays with his own rhythm, his own cadence.
And then he’s big enough to just push you on your hip and just bump and shoot a fader over you. Or he can get all the way downhill and make plays.
He got a like one-of-one vision out there on the court. So, his size and pace is just just one-of-one, and it makes it hard.
“He put a 60 on my head when I was in New York,” Grimes added. “So, I’m done being on the end of that anymore.
So, I’m good. I get to be on the offensive end back with him again for sure.
So, his pace is just one-of-one in the NBA really.”
That 60-point game came on Dec. 27, 2022, when Grimes was starting for the New York Knicks. He had a strong night himself, finishing with 33 points, but Doncic stole the spotlight in a 126-121 overtime win for the Dallas Mavericks.
Doncic’s line that night was ridiculous: 60 points on 21-31 shooting, 21 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and one block. It was the first 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history.
The sequence everyone remembers came late in regulation, when Doncic intentionally missed a free throw, tracked down the loose ball and somehow flipped it in while falling to the floor. That bucket forced overtime, and he added seven more points there to close it out.
Less than two years later, Grimes and Doncic were teammates. The Mavericks got Grimes from the Detroit Pistons in July 2024, and Grimes said Doncic never rubbed that 60-point explosion in his face.
“No, even when we was in Dallas, thank god he didn’t remind me of that,” Grimes said. “We would have some problems with a lot of one-on-ones, but no, it was all good.
We had a really good relationship. He was the first one to text me right when the news broke, within like 5 minutes… That’s my guy for sure.
It’s going to be a lot of fun playing with him again.”
Their connection was obvious, and both players were eventually dealt away by the Mavricks in February 2025. The Doncic trade sent shockwaves through the league, and there were negative reports at the time about his weight, work ethic and more. Grimes pushed back on that talk, saying he spent a lot of time in the gym.
Now Grimes is in Los Angeles after averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2025-26. The Lakers signed the 26-year-old to a four-year, $60 million deal, and he’ll get the chance to show what that investment looks like.
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