The Knicks might have a real Jose Alvarado problem

When the New York Knicks traded for Jose Alvarado at the deadline, the idea was that he would be a real spark plug for them off the bench and provide them with additional scoring and playmaking along with great defense. While it looked to be that way at the start, things have started to turn for the worse.

Knicks’ Jose Alvarado is struggling at a bad time

Alvarado played just five minutes in Thursday’s 114-103 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, and was benched fully in the second half. In Alvarado’s action, he did not record a stat and struggled on both ends of the floor, a recent trend that has become more worrisome.

Tyler Kolek took Alvarado’s minutes in the second half to try to find a spark. New York still struggled on both ends, credit to a hot Hornets team, but it raises a serious question about the playoff rotation, especially with Miles McBride’s return imminent.

“I just wanted to throw him out there, see if he could give us a spark,” head coach Mike Brown said about putting Kolek in the game on Thursday (h/t New York Basketball on X).

Alvarado may be out of the rotation soon

Alvarado is averaging just 3.4 points per game on 36% shooting from the field in his last 10 games. In those games, he is averaging just 13 minutes per game, as he is quickly descending down Brown’s trust ladder given his recent struggles all-around.

Given the Knicks’ amount of guard depth when healthy, Alvarado might quickly find himself out of the rotation. Kolek has shown to be impactful offensively in spurts, and McBride’s soon-to-be return creates a logjam of guards that could push Alvarado out of the main rotation.

Alvarado still provides energy as a defender, but lately fouls have plagued him. It’s one thing to be aggressive on that end, but being too aggressive hurts the team’s ability to get stops. He could become more of a situational piece in a playoff setting, unless he plays his way into meaningful minutes.

Unless Alvarado turns things around soon, he could quickly find his way out of playing meaningful minutes on a team chasing a championship.

By Dylan Backer

Dylan Backer is the Senior Content Producer for ESM. He is 23 years old and is from Royal Palm ... More about Dylan Backer