nOT TOO LONG BEFORE New Orleans Pelicans fans started calling him “Grand Theft Alvarado,” Jose Alvarado found himself up against some immeasurable odds. The Brooklyn native was on a two-way deal with the New Orleans Pelicans and wasn’t seeing much action on the floor.
After going undrafted in 2021, the 6-0 guard out of Georgia Tech, who was splitting time between the Pels and their G League affiliate, the Birmingham Squadron, kept telling himself that if he wasn’t going to play, just make sure that it felt like he was out there playing.
Do something that makes you impact the day, he’d say. Not just the game but the day.
That meant learning how to be impactful in other ways, even if he wasn’t on the court. Not only would he watch the game, but he’d study it, thinking critically about ways he would attack the defense if he was out there. Teammates like Brandon Ingram took notice and would ask him for his perspective.
“Brandon Ingram used to come to the side and be like, ” Alvarado recalls over
