Jose Alvarado Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Durant, Beal, Rockets, Giannis, Marshall, Pelicans

November 20th, 2024 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s optimism that Kevin Durant will be able to return from his left calf strain at some point next week, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link), who suggests the Suns star could be back on the court as soon as Tuesday for an NBA Cup matchup with the Lakers.

There’s also optimism that Bradley Beal, who is dealing with a left calf strain of his own, will be able to return at some point next week, says Charania.

After taking on the Knicks on Wednesday in Phoenix, the Suns will have five days off before facing the Lakers, so if Durant can make it back for that Tuesday game, he’ll only be sidelined for one more contest. That would be great news for the Suns, who got off to an 8-1 start with Durant in the lineup and have gone 1-5 since he went down.

Here are a few more notes from around the Western Conference:

The Rockets aren’t interested in breaking up their core to acquire Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link). The report is presumably a response to Marc Stein saying that rival teams are keeping an eye on Houston as a possible Antetokounmpo suitor should he become available. However, given that Giannis isn’t actually available and Houston’s “core” isn’t precisely defined, it reads less like the Rockets are taking a hard-line position they’ll stick to in hypothetical negotiations down the road and more like they simply want to express how highly they value their young players.
Mavericks forward Naji Marshall admitted he was “a little bit excited” to play the Pelicans on Tuesday, since it was his first time since entering the NBA that he got a chance to face a former team, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Marshall, who had 15 points and three steals as Dallas secured a blowout win, said he has enjoyed seeing several former teammates who arrived in New Orleans around the same time as him secure contract extensions. “It’s crazy to see how it panned out,” Marshall said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “Herb (Jones) is somebody. Jose (Alvarado). Trey (Murphy). Me. It’s a blessing. It’s something you dream about literally. When we were kids, wondering if we were going to be here or not. To see it all pan out and go in our favor is amazing.”
Reinforcements should be coming soon for the injury-plagued Pelicans, according to Will Guillory of The Athletic, who says CJ McCollum could be back as soon as this Friday, with Jones and Jordan Hawkins to follow in the coming weeks. There’s hope that the team will be mostly healthy early next month, Guillory writes, though Alvarado’s and Zion Williamson‘s absences will likely extend beyond that. As Guillory details, if and when the Pelicans get back to full strength, the pressure will be on head coach Willie Green to get the team back into playoff contention.

Pelicans’ Jose Alvarado Expected To Miss Six Weeks

November 12th, 2024 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

12:09pm: The Pelicans have officially announced that Alvarado has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain (Twitter link).

According to the team, the guard will be reevaluated in three weeks, though that doesn’t mean he’ll be ready to return at that time. As noted below, Charania cited sources who estimated a six-week recovery timeline.

11:17am: The bad news just keeps on coming for the Pelicans, who are already missing several rotation players due to injuries and have now lost another one. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), guard Jose Alvarado is expected to be out for six weeks due to a hamstring injury.

Alvarado typically plays a relatively modest rotation role off the bench for the Pelicans, but has started seven of 11 games and logged major minutes this season due to the team’s injury woes.

In his last six full games prior to injuring his hamstring on Monday, the 26-year-old had averaged 17.2 points, 5.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in 33.3 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .422/.447/.800.

Alvarado is one of six Pelicans starters or rotation players currently sidelined. The team is also operating without Zion Williamson (hamstring), Dejounte Murray (hand), CJ McCollum (adductor), Herbert Jones (shoulder), and Jordan Hawkins (back) as a result of multi-week injuries. Additionally, Trey Murphy (hamstring) missed the team’s first 10 games before making his season debut on Monday.

Teams can apply for a hardship exception allowing them to add an extra player to their 15-man roster if they have four players who have missed at least three games due to injuries and are expected to remain out for at least two more weeks.

The hardship exception allows for an extra temporary roster spot for each additionally unavailable player beyond that minimum four-player threshold, meaning the Pelicans could qualify for multiple hardship exceptions once Williamson and Alvarado have missed at least three games apiece. If Hawkins is also expected to miss an extended period, New Orleans could be eligible for as many as three extra roster spots, though the recovery timeline originally reported for Hawkins was just a week or two.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that hardship signings will count toward the Pelicans’ team salary for cap and tax purposes and the club is currently operating about $2.8MM over the luxury tax line, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. New Orleans, having never paid the tax, will likely try to sneak below the threshold later in the season, so the team may be wary about adding additional salary to its books, even on 10-day hardship contracts.

After Monday’s loss to Brooklyn, the Pelicans are 3-8, placing them in a tie with Portland for the No. 13 seed in the Western Conference. New Orleans has a challenging stretch of games on tap that includes matchups with the Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Warriors, and Pacers in the next two weeks.

Injury Notes: Raptors, Zion, Morant, Melton, Vassell

November 8th, 2024 at 5:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Raptors rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, who missed the preseason and the first five games of the regular season with a sprained right AC joint, has re-sprained that joint and will be reevaluated in a week, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.

It’s not all bad news on the injury front for Toronto though. Rookie forward Jonathan Mogbo is listed as probable to play on Saturday after exiting Wednesday’s game with a hip pointer, while starting point guard Immanuel Quickley has been upgraded to questionable after missing the last eight games with a pelvic contusion (Twitter link via Murphy).

There’s optimism Quickley will be back in action this weekend, either on Saturday vs. the Clippers or Sunday vs. the Lakers, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Pelicans star Zion Williamson was ruled out for Friday’s game against Orlando about 90 minutes before tip-off (Twitter link via the team). As Christian Clark of NOLA.com notes (via Twitter), Williamson has now missed three of the team’s past four games with three different injury designations. He was sidelined by right hamstring tightness on Sunday, right thigh soreness on Monday, and left hamstring tightness today. With Zion out, the injury-plagued Pelicans are running out a starting lineup of Jose Alvarado, Brandon Boston, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Yves Missi alongside Brandon Ingram, tweets Clark.
After leaving Wednesday’s win due to hip and hamstring discomfort, Grizzlies star Ja Morant will miss Friday’s contest vs. Washington due to right hip soreness. The point guard will undergo more imaging on Saturday to assess the severity of his injury and determine a return timeline, head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters today (Twitter link via Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com).
Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton, who has missed five consecutive games due to a low back strain, has been cleared to return for Friday’s showdown vs. the 9-0 Cavaliers, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Draymond Green (right knee contusion) and Brandin Podziemski (illness) will also be available for Golden State, giving the team a fully healthy roster (Twitter link via Slater).
As expected, Devin Vassell remains on track to make his season debut for the Spurs on Saturday after nine games while recovering from foot surgery. The team has listed him as probable to play vs. Utah, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).

Southwest Notes: Alvarado, Pelicans, Morant, Edey, Adams, Rockets

October 26th, 2024 at 11:59am CST by Luke Adams

With Dejounte Murray sidelined for at least four-to-six weeks, the Pelicans will be counting on recently extended guard Jose Alvarado to move up the depth chart and take on a bigger role this fall, writes Rod Walker of NOLA.com.

“Jose’s gotta step up big time for us,” head coach Willie Green said. “We all love Jose and we know he brings it night in and night out and we know he’s going to step right up to the plate and get it done for us.”

Alvarado played 13 minutes on Friday in New Orleans’ first game without Murray and contributed four assists and three steals, but also went scoreless and committed four turnovers. He’ll likely see more minutes in the days and weeks to come, but the Pelicans leaned more heavily on guards CJ McCollum (40 minutes) and Jordan Hawkins (29 minutes) to complete a comeback win over Portland on Friday.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

After missing most of last season due to a shoulder injury, Ja Morant looks fully healthy this fall, but only played 28 minutes in Wednesday’s opener and 24 on Friday. Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins, noting that Morant sat out three of five preseason games, said the team is still getting its star point guard up to full speed during a stretch of six games in nine days, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “We’re working with him and the medical team about how we want to deploy him over this stretch right now,” Jenkins said. “Obviously he was out for a portion of preseason, so getting his game legs and conditioning right.”
At the conclusion of the Grizzlies‘ loss to the Rockets on Friday, rookie Zach Edey met Steven Adams at halfcourt and spent more than two minutes talking to the former Grizzlies center. Edey, referring to the conversation as “big man stuff,” declined to go into specifics after the game, but said he welcomed the opportunity to get some advice from a player whose game he admires. “That’s somebody I’ve been watching for a while,” Edey said, according to Cole. “So everything he’s telling me, I’m listening to.”
The combination of Amen Thompson and Tari Eason on the second unit helped provide the shut-down defense the Rockets needed to pull away from Memphis in the second half of Friday’s game. As Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle details, the defensive potential of that Thompson/Eason duo off the bench is something that excites the team. “We always talk about what we can do defensively and how we’re going to be special if we’re locked in,” Eason said. “We just gave each other that look and talked with (head coach) Ime (Udoka) and knew we had to turn it up a notch.” Houston outscored the Grizzlies 25-11 in the 7:20 the two wings played together in the second half.

Pelicans Notes: Ingram, Centers, Williamson, Alvarado

October 2nd, 2024 at 10:59am CST by Luke Adams

It has become increasingly rare for a star player on an NBA team to go through the offseason prior to his contract year without being extended or traded, but that’s the situation that Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram finds himself in this fall.

As Christian Clark of NOLA.com writes, Ingram – who will become an unrestricted free agent in 2025 if he doesn’t sign a new contract before July – was asked this week about the possibility of signing a preseason extension. The former All-Star said he doesn’t “expect anything” and that he’s happy to focus on basketball.

“Me and (Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin) have had some conversations, a few conversations,” Ingram said on Monday at media day. “But at the end of the day, it’s a business. As long as I do the basketball part, the business is going to handle itself — whether it’s here or somewhere else. I just have to continue to put the work in.”

Griffin acknowledged that the situation has the potential to get awkward, but he expressed confidence that it won’t be a distraction for Ingram or the Pelicans due to the trust the two sides have in one another.

“The reason people don’t get into this situation is there is not a level of trust between the two parties that he could enter the year and perform at a high level and be about the right things and we would honor our commitment to him,” Griffin said, per Clark. “Neither party has that fear. It’s going to be a unique situation. I know what it’s supposed to look like is one thing or another. We’re not worried about that. He’s a really unique guy with a unique skill set.”

Here’s more on the Pelicans:

Although Ingram returned at the end of last season from the knee injury that sidelined him for 12 games, he admitted he wasn’t at full strength during the playoffs and that it took a while for him to get back to 100%. “Gone through some ups and downs trying to get the knee back healthy,” Ingram said, according to Clark. “It actually was a long summer trying to get the knee back healthy. I’ve been working out hard. Working out at 100%. I’m ready to go.” Griffin explained Ingram’s absence from a voluntary mini-camp in August by telling reporters, “(He) wasn’t ready for that physically, and he knew it.”
With Jonas Valanciunas and Larry Nance Jr. no longer on the roster, the Pelicans’ new group of centers is made up of journeyman Daniel Theis and rookies Yves Missi and Karlo Matkovic. There will be plenty of instances during the season when none of those bigs are on the floor for New Orleans, according to head coach Willie Green. “I’m not dead set on (starting a true center). I’m pretty undecided,” Green said (story via Will Guillory of The Athletic). “When we get to camp, I think your team helps you make those decisions. … There are going to be a ton of games when we don’t have a traditional center on the floor.”
While Zion Williamson will be the biggest player on the court in certain Pelicans lineups, Griffin pushed back against labeling the former Duke star a small-ball center, per Guillory. “Zion grew up a point guard. He grew up with the ball in his hands. He literally identifies the game by facing the basket and handling the ball,” Griffin said. “He’s never been traditional as a big in any way, shape or form. And yet, because he’s large, people want to make him a ‘big.’ He’s really not that.”
Taking more jump shots will be a priority for Zion this season, Griffin told reporters, including Clark. Williamson is on board with that plan, though he stressed that he’s not just focused on continuing to develop his offensive game and wants to make a real impact on defense too. “Whenever I’m in great condition, I feel like my play on both ends of the floor is at a high level,” Williamson said. “Not just one.”
In case you missed it, Jose Alvarado‘s two-year, $9MM contract extension with the Pelicans is now official. It features a flat structure, with a $4.5MM guaranteed salary in 2025/26 and a $4.5MM player option for ’26/27, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.

Pelicans, Jose Alvarado Complete Two-Year Extension

September 30th, 2024 at 7:47pm CST by Luke Adams

SEPTEMBER 30: The Pelicans have issued a press release officially announcing Alvarado’s extension.

SEPTEMBER 28: The Pelicans and guard Jose Alvarado have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $9MM, agent Ron Shade tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Alvarado is earning $1,988,598 in 2024/25 in the final year of his current minimum-salary contract. That salary, which had been non-guaranteed, will become fully guaranteed as part of the agreement, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

The new extension will begin next July and will include a player option for the ’26/27 season, according to Charania.

Alvarado, 26, has spent the past three seasons in New Orleans after going undrafted out of Georgia Tech in 2021. He emerged as a regular contributor for the Pelicans as a rookie free agent in 2021/22, earning a promotion from his two-way contract to the standard roster near the end of that season, and has maintained his place in the team’s rotation since then.

In 2023/24, Alvarado averaged 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 18.4 minutes per game across 56 appearances off the bench. Nicknamed “Grand Theft Alvarado” for his habit of making highlight-reel steals, the Pelicans guard posted a shooting line of .412/.377/.673 and finished sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting last season.

The maximum extension that Alvarado could have signed would’ve been similar to the one Andrew Nembhard received from Indiana, worth over $18MM in 2025/26. While that would’ve been an overpay, the Pelicans did very well to lock up the reserve guard for an additional season at just $4.5MM, a bargain for any effective rotation player. If he continues to produce in New Orleans, Alvarado could opt out in 2026 and seek a more lucrative deal at that time.

The Pelicans now have seven players on guaranteed contracts for the 2025/26 season, with Jordan Hawkins likely to join that group in the next few weeks when the team exercises his rookie scale team option. Brandon Ingram (unrestricted) and Trey Murphy (restricted) will be among New Orleans’ 2025 free agents if they don’t sign extensions of their own.

Pelicans Exercising Options On Alvarado, Robinson-Earl

June 28th, 2024 at 11:30am CST by Arthur Hill

The Pelicans will pick up their team options on point guard Jose Alvarado and power forward/center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a source tells Christian Clark of NOLA (Twitter link).

Alvardo, 26, has been a valuable reserve for New Orleans over the past three seasons and finished sixth in this year’s Sixth Man of the Year balloting after averaging 7.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 56 games. His $1.99MM salary for next season will remain non-guaranteed, but he’s obviously still in the Pelicans’ plans and is in no danger of getting waived.

The decision means Alvarado’s free agency will be unrestricted in 2025, rather than restricted this summer. He will be eligible to sign an extension anytime during the 2024/25 league year.

Robinson-Earl, 23, signed a two-way contract with New Orleans in November after being waived by Houston. He was converted to a standard deal in February that included a $2.2MM team option for 2024/25. He appeared in 39 games last season, averaging 2.9 points and 1.9 assists in 8.6 minutes per night.

Robinson-Earl will also be on track for unrestricted free agency in 2025 with his option exercised.

Pelicans Notes: Murphy, Alvarado, Valanciunas, Draft, Arena

May 22nd, 2024 at 9:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

A rookie scale extension for Trey Murphy will be one of the Pelicans‘ offseason priorities, but it will take a significant offer to make it happen, according to Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Clark sees a new contract for Murphy falling somewhere between the four-year, $94.5MM deal that Brooklyn gave Cameron Johnson last summer and the five-year pact Devin Vassell signed with San Antonio that includes $135MM in guaranteed money.

Murphy came off the bench in 34 of the 57 games he played this season, but Clark points to an April matchup with Golden State as evidence that he can handle a full-time starting role. With Brandon Ingram sidelined by an injury, Murphy scored 24 points and sank six three-pointers, three of which were from 30 feet or longer.

New Orleans reportedly plans to explore trades involving Ingram this summer, creating an opportunity for Murphy to replace him in the starting lineup. Clark views Murphy as a better fit alongside Zion Williamson and Herbert Jones, adding that all three will be under long-term deals if Murphy signs an extension.

There’s more from New Orleans:

The Pelicans are very likely to pick up their $1.99MM team option on Jose Alvarado, Keith Smith of Spotrac states in an offseason overview of the team. Option decisions on Jeremiah Robinson-Earl ($2.2MM) and Matt Ryan ($2.4MM) are less certain, but Smith expects New Orleans to keep both players unless the front office decides it needs to open a roster spot. The more difficult choices, according to Smith, are what to do with center Jonas Valanciunas and small forward Naji Marshall, who will both be unrestricted free agents if they don’t agree to extensions by late June. Smith expects a one- or two-year deal for Valanciunas if he’s brought back, while Marshall seems likely to wind up elsewhere.
The Pelicans need to find a big man in the draft, and there should be plenty of decent options when they pick at No. 21, Smith adds, listing Zach Edey, Yves Missi, DaRon Holmes II and Kel’el Ware as players who could still be on the board. Smith expects New Orleans to defer the first-round pick that it’s owed from the Lakers, which is at No. 17, and take L.A.’s first-rounder next year instead.
The Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District voted to delay planned improvements to Smoothie King Center because Pelicans owner Gayle Benson, who also owns the NFL’s Saints, is delinquent on payments for upgrades to the Superdome, Clark and Jeff Duncan write in a separate story. ASM Global, which manages the Superdome, contends the Saints are $11.5MM behind and haven’t made a payment since December. The NFL team issued a statement (via Twitter) saying it has no problem paying the $11.5MM — or its $41MM share of the $58MM project — but added, “We have, however, asked for certain documentation over an extended period and we have not received that documentation.” Last year, the Pelicans extended their lease at the arena through June of 2029.

Wolves’ Naz Reid Named Sixth Man Of The Year

April 24th, 2024 at 5:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Timberwolves big man Naz Reid has been named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year for the 2023/24 season, the league announced on Wednesday evening (via Twitter).

A former undrafted free agent, Reid averaged 13.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 0.9 BPG on .477/.414/.736 shooting in 81 games this season (24.2 MPG).

Reid is the first player in Timberwolves franchise history to win the Sixth Man award, per a team press release.

The 24-year-old was a major reason why Minnesota didn’t skip a beat when Karl-Anthony Towns was sidelined with a knee injury late in the season. The Wolves went 14-6 without Towns and 56-26 overall, good for the No. 3 seed in the West.

The voting was remarkably close (Twitter link via the NBA). In fact, it was the smallest margin between first- and second-place finishers since the current voting format was implemented 21 years ago, according to the league (via Twitter).

Reid finished with 45 first-place votes, 39 second-place votes and 10 third-place votes for a total of 352 points. Runner-up Malik Monk had the exact same number of second- and third-place votes, but finished with two fewer first-place votes for 342 total points.

Kings guard Monk appeared in 72 games this season for Sacramento, all off the bench. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 5.1 APG on .443/.350/.829 shooting in 26.0 MPG.

Bucks big man Bobby Portis, who finished third in Sixth Man voting last season, finished a distant third again in ’23/24, receiving 81 total points. He averaged 13.8 PPG and 7.4 RPG on .508/.407/.790 shooting without missing a game this season for Milwaukee (24.5 MPG).

Clippers wing Norman Powell (65 points) and Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (40 points) finished fourth and fifth in voting, respectively. No other player received more than three points.

Powell actually received the most third-place votes of any player, but fewer first- and second-place votes than Portis, which is why he finished behind Milwaukee’s forward/center.

Jose Alvarado, Russell Westbrook, T.J. McConnell, Jonathan Isaac, Jaime Jaquez, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Bojan Bogdanovic all received at least one vote.

Injury Updates: Mitchell, Okoro, Luka, Sengun, Pelicans

April 7th, 2024 at 2:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The struggling Cavaliers, who have lost seven of their past 10 games, will be without leading scorer Donovan Mitchell on Sunday vs. the Clippers, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who tweets that Mitchell is out due to injury management related to his knee.

On the plus side, Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro is on track to return after missing the past four games with a toe injury (Twitter link via Fedor).

At 46-32, the Cavs still hold the No. 3 spot in the East, but they’re only a half-game ahead of both Orlando and New York, so they’re in danger of losing home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Here are a few more injury-related updates from around the NBA:

After missing Friday’s win over Golden State, Mavericks star Luka Doncic (right knee soreness) will be back in action on Sunday vs. Houston, the team confirmed (via Twitter). A strong finish in the season’s final week would ensure that the 47-30 Mavs secure a top-six seed in the West — they’re currently at No. 5.
Even with the Rockets slipping out of the play-in race, center Alperen Sengun hasn’t given up hope of returning to the court this season, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). Sengun, who injured his right ankle and knee on March 10, estimated that he’s about 60% recovered, per Feigen, and has begun “light mobility work,” according to head coach Ime Udoka. He hasn’t been ruled out for the season, but it would be a bit surprising if he returned to just play a game or two after Houston is officially eliminated from postseason contention. “Maybe he gets on the court, but it’s nothing we discussed yet,” Udoka said.
Pelicans wing Naji Marshall, who left Friday’s game with a left shoulder contusion, didn’t practice on Saturday and is considered questionable to play in Sunday’s game in Phoenix, tweets Erin Summers of Bally Sports. Zion Williamson (left finger contusion) and Jose Alvarado (right oblique strain) are also listed as questionable, but they both practiced on Saturday.