Jose Alvarado is the ‘most New York’ of Knicks in NBA Finals

---

From San Antonio to New York City, follow Andscape’s coverage of the 2026 NBA Finals with columnist William C. Rhoden, senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears and more.

---

NEW YORK — About a month after proudly donning a New York Knicks jersey for the first time, native New Yorker Jose Alvarado spoke about a championship dream that, a few short months later, is close to coming true.

“We really believe that we can achieve something,” Alvarado told Andscape in March. “We want to hang the banner. So, we got to just take it day by day. And s‑‑‑, when we win, you know how it’s going to get in New York. It would just be a dream come true.”

Alvarado and the Knicks are now two wins away from becoming NBA champions, with Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs tonight at Madison Square Garden. New York won the first two games of the best-of-seven Finals on the road in San Antonio before losing 115-111 at Madison Square Garden in Monday’s Game 3. The two-time NBA champion Knicks are making their first Finals appearance since 1999 and haven’t won a title since 1973.

For Alvarado, potentially being a part of a long-awaited Knicks championship would have special meaning: The 28-year-old is a lifelong Knicks fan and the only player on the team from New York City.

“I still hang out where I’m from. I’m still around the people I was with when I was growing up. I’m sure I am the most New York person on this team,” Alvarado told Andscape.

Alvarado was born April 12, 1998, in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents Odilia Martinez and Jose Alvarado Sr. The Alvarados once resided in the Roberto Clemente Plaza Apartments, a five‐building, publicly financed low‐ and middle‐income housing complex in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. Alvarado told Andscape in 2023 that he was from a “low- to middle-class family” with parents doing the best they could during his time in Williamsburg.

“The beautiful and the challenging of the neighborhood go together. I saw people just trying to make it out of the struggle,” Alvarado told Andscape in 2023.

Alvarado comes from a family of die-hard Knicks fans. His favorite Knicks era was the 2010s, watching Carmelo Anthony as well as J. R. Smith and Jeremy Lin, but going to see the Knicks at the Garden wasn’t a part of Alvarado’s youth growing up in Brooklyn and Queens.

“I went to one Knicks game [as a child],” Alvarado said. “I saw ‘Melo’ play against the Brooklyn Nets, who were the New Jersey Nets at the time. It was a dream come true.”

A New York basketball star

Alvarado’s first basketball attention came in the eighth grade, when he flourished at a camp at Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, Queens. Christ the King varsity boys’ basketball coach Joe Arbitello loved what he saw in Alvarado, so much so that he convinced his family — which had moved to the Pomonok Houses in Queens — to allow him to join his program.

“Nick Sanchez, his uncle who’s my assistant coach and played at Christ King, played at Florida, told me I needed to come watch this kid at my camp,” Arbitello told Andscape in a phone interview. “We had about 250 campers. Jose had this big, bushy hair, and he just looked older than everybody. So, I was like, ‘Nick, that guy is just bigger and stronger than everybody else. He can’t be in the eighth grade.’

“And then by Wednesday and Thursday, I had his parents in my office trying to convince them to put him at Christ King High School, because this tenacity and his ability to impact winning — even back then, it was just so noticeable.”

Arbitello certainly had a great eye for talent, as Alvarado became a star at Christ the King. The TimesLedger Player of the Year as a senior was a three-star recruit whom ESPN ranked as the 32nd best point guard in the country in the 2017 class.

His 6-foot height was seen as a limit on his potential, but Alvarado, the son of a boxer, was fast, had lightning quick hands and was an amazing defender. He decided to attend Georgia Tech, following in the footsteps of fellow New Yorkers and former NBA point guards Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury.

“We wrote down the pros and the cons for each school,” Arbitello said. “And when that was all said and done, it was just very evident that he should take Georgia Tech. And then I told him, ‘You have to call Rutgers and [head coach Steve] Pikiell and tell them.’ Listen, that was the hardest part of the recruiting situation for him was that he actually had to call somebody and disappoint them. Jose is not the kind of kid that wants to disappoint.”

Alvarado had a strong career with the Yellow Jackets, serving as the team’s starting point guard all four years and averaging 15.5 points and 3.5 assists per game as a senior during the 2020-21 season. The 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Alvarado led Georgia Tech to the ACC tournament championship that season, and after no team selected him in the 2021 NBA draft a few months later, the New Orleans Pelicans signed him to a two-way contract.

Alvarado’s defensive intensity, hustle and passing earned him a multiyear contract after his rookie season. He became a crowd favorite as a bench piece in New Orleans, averaging 8.1 points and 3.1 assists in 268 games across 4½ seasons.

While New York City will always be home, New Orleans became a second home near and dear to his heart. He also is still connected to his old Pelicans teammates.

“New Orleans made me, made my career, made me to where I could get to here,” Alvarado told Andscape. “I always will love New Orleans. I can’t wait to go back and visit. I’m going to go down to Mardi Gras when I can. That’s just my second base home, and it will always be there.”

An emotional homecoming

As much as Alvarado loved New Orleans, his ears piqued when he began hearing trade rumors that he could be traded home to the Knicks. His dream ultimately came true Feb. 5, when he was traded to New York in exchange for Dalen Terry, two future second-round picks, and cash considerations.

While the move wasn’t a total surprise to Alvarado, the reality of it was “hard to believe” and made him emotional.

“I cried. I called my parents. They started crying. My wife, everybody was just so excited knowing that they are a good team,” Alvarado, who had played in just two playoff series with New Orleans, told the media.

It was one thing to make an NBA dream come true. It was another for Alvarado to have “NEW YORK” on the front of his jersey and “ALVARADO” on the back of it. While a nervous Alvarado struggled in his Knicks debut on Feb. 10 at Madison Square Garden, putting on that Knicks jersey for the first time was memorable. He wore it with the same pride he did when he represented his family’s native Puerto Rico in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“It was surreal, bro,” Alvarado told Andscape. “I never really get nervous, because I get excited before games. This game, it was like my heart was pumping. And just coming out there, and then seeing my mom and dad, and my family, my wife, my kids in the Garden, and me with a Knicks jersey, it was crazy, to be honest.

“It’s something like playing for my country. I got to represent. It’s more than me; it’s just more than who I am. It’s something I grew up with.”

Arbitello said the humble Alvarado, who averaged 16.9 minutes per game with the Knicks in the regular season and has played at least 10 minutes in each of the first three Finals games, doesn’t understand how big of a star he is in New York.

Arbitello joked that Alvarado answers his text messages faster than his own children do. Alvarado called him recently to say he planned to do an impromptu stop by Christ the King to see him. His old coach ruled against it, however, because the school wasn’t prepared for a potential wild student reaction to his arrival.

“I’m like, ‘Jose, you can’t just stop by. You can’t just pop up. You’re like a celebrity,'” Arbitello, who is now the principal at Christ the King, told Andscape. “‘The school will go crazy. You got to give me at least 16 hours’ notice so I can make sure that we’re all set and we don’t have parents running up to the school to meet you.

“He’s one of the biggest names in New York right now. I don’t think he understands that 100% yet.”

Several years removed from Christ the King, Alvarado says there is a lot of wisdom he learned from Arbitello that he lives by today.

“The best thing he taught me about is accountability,” Alvarado told Andscape. “’If you’re not going to be yourself, then no one is going to feel for you and understand you.’ So, one thing he did teach me is accountability and to be a great leader.

“He just says to be myself. We text all the time, and he’s obviously a great guy. He’s family to me, and he took good care of me. And that’s somebody I just always have right on my corner.”

Just four months after becoming a Knick, Alvarado’s championship dreams have the ability to come true, and he is appreciating every moment of it.

He was given a special proclamation during a homecoming event at the Williamsburg Community Center on April 11 hosted by Brooklyn Borough president Antonio Reynoso and the Grand Street Settlement. He went from idolizing Carmelo Anthony to telling the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer on his “7 PM in Brooklyn” podcast that if the Knicks win the Finals, he is going to be “drunk for eight days” and throw a world tour celebration.

While the Knicks live by the motto, “Once a Knick, always a Knick,” winning a title will give Alvarado legendary status.

“If I win a ring in New York,” Alvarado told Andscape in March, “it’s going to be crazy.”

The post Jose Alvarado is the ‘most New York’ of Knicks in NBA Finals appeared first on Andscape.