The New York Knicks may be giddy about the elite defensive efforts and steady shooting stroke that trade deadline acquisition Jose Alvarado will provide them on a nightly basis, but the overall benefits of having the guard now donning the orange and blue threads far exceed mere counting stats.
It goes without saying that every member of this organization desperately wants to see the Larry O'Brien Trophy heading back to Madison Square Garden come the conclusion of this year's campaign.
However, no one wishes for this more than long-suffering Knicks fans.
Excitingly enough, Alvarado just so happens to fit into both of these categories, which could prove to be a serious boon for the club during these latter stages of the regular season and throughout their forthcoming playoff run.
Jose Alvarado in a position to fight for the dream every Knicks fan has
A Brooklyn native and Christ the King Regional High School alumnus, Alvarado is a born-and-raised New Yorker and, even while with the Pelicans, an outspoken, life-long Knicks fan.
Unfortunately for him, however, at just 27-years-old, the vast majority of his fandom has been marred by mediocrity.
Far too young to have remembered the Patrick Ewing era, let alone the Walt Frazier- and Willis Reed-led championship teams of the early '70s, much of Alvarado's cognitive years were spent watching the disastrous Isiah Thomas-run squads during the mid-aughts and the shockingly worse Phil Jackson regime during the 2010s.
Instead of bearing witness to New York going toe-to-toe with Michael Jordan and the Bulls back in the '90s, the point guard sat front row for things like the franchise's nauseating 17-win season back in 2018-19 instead.
The pain that Alvarado, as well as Knicks fans worlwide have endured since the turn of the century is enough to make any sane person go completely mad.
Fortunately, we're built different.
Now, here in 2025-26, all this suffering may finally prove to have been worth it, as New York has the second-best odds to come out of the Eastern Conference for the first time since 1999, and the fourth-best odds to raise their first NBA Championship banner into the rafters at MSG for the first time in over 50 years.
There's no doubt that every member of this Knicks team understands the gravity that this opportunity holds. Of course, no one on the roster (minus Jalen Brunson, whose father, Rick, was a member of the team in the late 1990s and early 2000s) understands it better than someone who has followed this team since birth, like Alvarado.
New Yorkers are known for wearing their emotions on their sleeve and having a no-nonsense attitude.
Whether it rubs off on their in-game production or overall mindset and psyche, having someone of Alvarado's ilk at a time where winning a title is seen as rather realistic can only stand to benefit this Knicks team moving forward.