Right before Thursday's trade deadline came to pass, the New York Knicks managed to pull off the least surprising, albeit incredibly exciting, deal by acquiring Brooklyn native Jose Alvarado from the New Orleans Pelicans.
This move arguably comes at the perfect time for Mike Brown's squad, as their backcourt rotation just took a major hit with the news that Miles McBride could be shelved for the remainder of the regular season as he undergoes surgery to repair a core muscle injury.
Now, while Alvarado's addition is believed to be an overall win for the Knicks in the immediate future, there's a growing belief that his arrival could lead to some rather harsh decisions being made a few months down the road, as ESPN's Tim Bontemps recently suggested that standout sophomore Tyler Kolek could be negatively impacted by the trade.
Knicks may have to choose between Jose Alvarado and Tyler Kolek
During a recent, post-deadline edition of The Hoop Collective Podcast, Bontemps revealed that he'll be "interested" in seeing how coach Brown approaches the backcourt rotations if/ when McBride returns to action ahead of the postseason.
"I will be interested to see if, when Deuce gets back, Alvarado plays over Tyler Kolek, who's had a nice emergence this year. He's a second-year guard who, frankly, I think may be better than Jose. It'll be a fun story having him back in New York," Bontemps said.
As the seasoned writer noted, Kolek is amid a breakout campaign here in year two with the Knicks. Through 44 games played, he's stepped up amid widespread injuries and finds himself dropping 5.0 points, 3.1 assists, 1.9 rebounds on a nightly basis while shooting 35.2 percent from distance.
Perhaps most impressive about his run so far is that he's been a major performer when the lights have been at their brightest here in 2025-26.
Yet, despite his undeniably positive impact on the team, the Knicks still felt it was necessary to bring on a player of Alvarado's caliber, someone who, as Bontemps put it, has the ability to push the tempo, press up full-court while on defense, and swipe away steals at an enviable rate.
Together, they somewhat make up for the contributions that McBride provides to this team on his own when healthy, which, while he recovers, should be a major boon for New York.
However, assuming he gets medically cleared ahead of the playoffs, the Knicks' need for all three players to log significant minutes will be expected to decrease, especially considering the fact that rotations generally tend to shrink for postseason play.
At this point, it's anyone's guess who could end up getting the short end of the stick come April.