A New Orleans Pelicans standout suffered a scary injury during AmeriCup competition this week.
The Pelicans are looking to bounce back from an injury-riddled season in 2024-25, and have already made some significant changes to their roster both on and off the court. New Orleans hired former champion Detroit Pistons president Joe Dumars to replace David Griffin.
Dumars got to work quickly, swinging for the fences with trades to bring in veteran guard Jordan Poole and to draft two players out of the lottery, Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears with the No. 7 selection and Maryland center Derik Queen with the No. 13 pick.
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A key longtime contributor, meanwhile, faces an uncertain immediate injury fate.
While playing for Puerto Rico during a quarterfinal matchup Thursday, Jose Alvarado was carted off the hardwood while laid out on a stretcher, after getting rattled from a hard foul in overtime. He had been going up to notch a rebound.
Per Rod Walker of NOLA.com, Alvarado seemed to land on his tailbone in the fall. He lingered on the floor for several minutes.
Alvarado had been Puerto Rico's star player against Argentina in the matchup ahead of his ailment. He had notched 25 points, while making 7-of-15 triple tries, in 36 minutes. Without him, Puerto Rico ran out of steam. Argentina ultimately won, 82-77, and moved on to face Canada in Saturday's semifinal matchup.
"Appreciate the love, y'all. But your boy good," Alvarado told fans on an Instagram story postgame (Walker also shared the clip). "God got me."
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No word has yet come out on Alvarado's availability, although the pint-sized point guard seemed to think he would recover sooner rather than later.
New Orleans, which finished with a respectable 49-33 record as recently as 2023-24, was grappling with major health issues throughout 2024-25.
Alvarado, himself, was shelved for 26 games as he dealt with a hamstring strain midseason. He averaged career-bests of 10.3 points, 4.6 dimes, 2.4 boards, and 1.3 swipes across 24.4 minutes per. In 2025-26, Alvarado will be in the first year of a two-season, $9 million extension. He has a $4.5 million player option in 2026-27.
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The 6-footer out of Georgia Tech, 27, has emerged as a scrappy, defense-first sparkplug off the bench for New Orleans. He finished sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting last season.
Even now, three key contributors are recuperating from their own injuries during the offseason. All-Star guard Dejounte Murray is still on the mend from an Achilles tendon tear, All-Defensive wing Herbert Jones is recovering from a shoulder surgery, and swingman Trey Murphy III is also recuperating from a shoulder surgery of his own.
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