The New York Knicks shocked the basketball world when they sent five first-round draft selections to the crosstown Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges. The full trade was a bit more complicated, with Manhattan's ball club also sending a pick swap, Bojan Bodganovic, Shake Milton, and Mamadi Diakite to their Atlantic Division compatriots in Brooklyn — and Keita Bates-Diop coming to the Knicks alongside Bridges.
The deal involved one more wrinkle, though. The teams each sent a second-round draft selection the other way. Over a year later, the Knicks put theirs to good use. After flipping Guerschon Yabusele for Dalen Terry, they sent Terry, the pick from the Nets, and another second rounder to the New Orleans Pelicans.
That second deal was for point guard Jose Alvarado: the final piece to the Knicks' championship puzzle. The Nets didn't directly hand the backup to the Knicks on a platter. The haul they got for Bridges was massive, and resulted in plenty of raised eyebrows in Leon Rose's direction. But the orange-and-blue team in New York wouldn't have been able to land Bridges or Alvarado, two crucial pieces of their 2026 title-winning roster, without some help from their friends from another borough.
Alvarado's Brooklyn heritage only adds to the irony here
It didn't take long after the trade for head coach Mike Brown to describe Alvarado as "irreplaceable" to New York's efforts. The guard brought grit and passion to the table that were valuable both on and off the basketball court. And his ball handling and defensive motor addressed a pair of Knick weaknesses.
Alvarado's performances in Games 1 and 4 of the NBA Finals, though, may have been what cemented his "irreplaceable" status with the Knicks. The guard was able to relieve Jalen Brunson both of defensive pressure, when they shared the court, and physical exhaustion — Alvarado was there when the Captain needed to sit for a moment.
Those contributions, particularly amid New York's execution of the greatest single-game comeback in NBA Finals history, wrote Alvarado's place in Knicks history. The hometown kid had helped to end their 53-year championship drought.
The borough that Alvarado calls home, though, is Brooklyn. It's the final level of irony in his instrumental role in the Knicks' first title in over half a decade. While Alvarado played for Christ the King High School in Queens, the guard with Puerto Rican heritage grew up in public housing in South Williamsburg.
Alvarado wouldn't have turned the Nets into a champion, had they acquired the Brooklynite for themselves. The Knicks just have an interesting footnote to add to the next thank-you note they send Sean Marks.
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