NBA champion Jose Alvarado is on the cover of the latest edition of the Slam Kicks magazine. The New York Knicks guard gave an exclusive interview in which he spoke about what it was like to bring a championship to New York, the emotional roller coaster of the parade, and what’s next in his career.
“The parade was amazing. So many people were out there wanting to cheer for us. I almost cried when I was on the float, going through the city I grew up in. I knew a lot of people who were in the crowd. Personally, I’d gone out and seen them, or they were just from my neighborhood, so I knew them.”
“But just in general, like people who knew my mom and my dad. It was pretty dope. I cried when one of my friends took the mic and sang, “Jose, Jose, Jose, Jose,” and that time period when I was going through the crowd in that main part, and everybody started singing it,” recalled Alvarado.
“And I was like, ‘Yo, this is crazy; this is my city.’ The best moment for me was when one of my daughters came up to me and said, ‘Daddy, they love you.’… This is something that is just once in a lifetime, and I know how much it would mean to me for them to have this moment.
“I just want them to know that Daddy did something in life. And regardless of whether they love it or not, I want them to understand that Daddy did something,” Jose Alvarado said.
“My parents get to experience this; they took a lot of risks for me, and now they get to see their son at the highest level, not only winning a championship, but winning it with the home team.”
While an NBA championship is definitely a milestone, it’s not the main goal that every individual player envisions for himself. In essence, winning one championship is not enough. To avoid it being seen as a fluke, you need to do it consistently. And that’s the type of mindset that drives Jose Alvarado to continue striving for greatness.
“I still haven’t done what I wanted to do with my career. I got a lot of goals I want to push for. This is probably going to be the hardest-working summer I’m going to put in. I want to be in the conversation for 6MOTY one day. Obviously I’ve got to work,” the Knicks guard added.
“Obviously, be in a situation where I get the minutes, consistency, and stuff like that. There’s always going to be a problem with it because I know I’m never going to pass the eye test.”
“You look at me, and I’m not the tallest or the most athletic in the NBA world, so I just know entering any room I just have to be the hardest-working person. So to stay in the NBA and be in the conversations I want to be in, I’ve got to have a chip on my shoulder no matter what,” he concluded.
The former Pelicans guard was traded to New York ahead of the February trade deadline. Jose Alvarado averaged 5.7 points, 2.8 assists, and 1.8 rebounds while shooting 41.9% from the field and 33.6% from behind the three-point line in 46 games for the Knicks in the 2025-26 regular season and playoffs combined.
Jose Alvarado signed a three-year, $15 million contract extension with the Knicks this summer. Alvarado envisions a bigger role for himself eventually and loved that Mike Brown showed faith in him when it mattered the most (during the NBA Finals).
Considering he is a backup guard behind Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart and even behind the likes of younger guards like Miles McBride and Landry Shamet, it will certainly be interesting to see if he can carve out a role for himself on the Knicks in the future.
Leave a Comment