First, allow me to introduce you to Jose Alvarado. Jose Alvarado is an American basketball player from New York City New York, born to Puerto Rican parents and in just a second year in the league, he has put the league on notice with his extraordinary abilities.
He attended college at Georgia Tech university where as a freshman he started all of 35 games in his freshman season, averaged 12.1 points per game and collected 3.7 rebounds per game. But it wasn’t until his sophomore season that he really began to flourish. in a game against Pittsburgh, Alvarado scored a career high 29 points and saw an increased roll off the bench.
In his junior season, he continued to excel with Georgia Tech scoring a season high 26 points against NC State. In this game, Alvarado also set a school record for most steals and rebounds with eight rebounds and nine steals at the end of the season he helped lead his team to the ACC tournament championship where the Georgia Tech yellow jackets won against the Florida State Seminoles. As a result of his great season, he was named the ACC defensive player of the year for 2020.
Fast forward to his professional career, Alvarado was initially undrafted but then signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans pelicans. In his first year in the league, he was not very much around the team due to a stipulation in his contract, stating that Alvarado must split time between the New Orleans pelicans and their G league affiliate the Birmingham squadron. His deal was eventually restructured on March 28, 2022. In this new deal, Alvarado was now set to be paid $65 million dollars on a four year deal making him eligible for postseason play.
Fast forward to just last weekend, he competed in the rising stars challenge is part of the NBA All-Star weekend where he totaled 13 points, and was named the MVP of the rising stars challenge (I know that may not seem like a lot, but trust me, go on YouTube and look up his highlights. You will not be disappointed).
As to what his fellow players has to say about him, they have done nothing but rave reviews his way. Specifically, Joel Embiid had a lot of high praise for Alvarado after they got into an altercation in a game that resulted in a 2,000 dollar fine which Embiid paid. In an article written by the Philadelphia Inquirer after the game, When asked what he liked about Alvarado, he was quoted as saying: He didn’t back down, and I respected him,” “I like that about him so after the game, I really just went up to him and I told him to keep fighting and to keep it going.”
In conclusion, I think that given more playing time and more opportunity, Jose Alvarado’s name will eventually become a household one. I for one noticed on Saturday.
