In about eight months, former Georgia Tech star Jose Alvarado has gone from going undrafted to securing a four-year contract with the New Orleans Pelicans worth $6.5 million. A fighter whose place in the ACC was once questioned, Alvarado has proven himself worthy of a spot in the NBA.
Alvarado’s contract was reported by The Athletic late Sunday. According to a tweet from reporter Shams Charania, he is guaranteed $3.4 million over the next two years, including $1.5 million for the rest of the year on top of the roughly $800,000 that he has made thus far. The two-way contract that the Pelicans signed him to shortly after the draft last July, which enabled him to play for the Pelicans and their G-League affiliate, was for $462,629. The Pelicans converted his salary to the rookie minimum ($925,258) in February before taking this much more significant step.
Alvarado entrenched himself in the Pelicans’ rotation in January with play that Yellow Jackets fans remember well – playmaking, scoring and pesky defense – and has only firmed his spot since. He is first among NBA rookies in plus/minus (plus-3.5), second in steals (1.3 per game) and ninth in assists (2.7 per game) while averaging 15.3 minutes per game. He scored a career-high 23 points against San Antonio on Saturday. Alvarado handed out five assists and grabbed five rebounds.
It is an unqualified success story for Alvarado, who made the jump from Tech to the NBA last offseason with a year of extra eligibility remaining, choosing to bet on himself.
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