On a small basketball court in Brooklyn's bustling South Williamsburg neighborhood, Malik Kaiser Covington Jr. is running point guard as he and friends from a local high school play half-court on a recent sunny afternoon.
The New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time in more than two decades, and 17-year-old Kaiser Covington and his friends are playing in the shadow of the Berry Street Houses, the public housing development where Jose Alvarado, one of the team’s newest recruits, spent his childhood.
Alvarado is the only native New Yorker on the team and wears the number five on his jersey, a number he said he chose in part as a nod to the five boroughs.
“ People keep thinking that he's just a random,” Kaiser Covington said of Alvarado. “He's the most underrated player on the Knicks, in my opinion.”
The Knicks’ playoff run to the NBA Finals has the city brimming with hometown pride. And perhaps no player sends a clearer message to New York kids that making it to the NBA is achievable than Alvarado. He is a scrappy and quick player on the court who pushes the Knicks' offensive tempo when he has the ball. Off the court, he’s got the swagger of a Brooklynite who jokes that his deli order is a chopped cheese. “Regular stuff, that’s what I've been doing,” he said when asked about his order in a video posted to a New York Knicks fan page.
On a local community center basketball court with Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in April, Alvarado told a crowd of mostly young people that he was “just like y’all.”
“Walking on these same streets. I played a few games in this gym right here,” he said, adding that now, “I’m playing for the New York Knicks.”
For newer Knicks fans, Alvarado is likely one of the team's lesser-known talents. He comes off the bench and relieves Jalen Brunson when the star point guard needs rest or gets into foul trouble.
But Alvarado’s skill, hustle and personality have been evident during his minutes in the finals. In the Knicks’ Game 3 loss at Madison Square Garden, he had a number of eye-catching moments.
In a second quarter David-and-Goliath moment, the 6-foot-tall Alvarado abruptly stopped his dribble then elevated and drained a jumpshot over the Spurs' 7-foot-4-inch star Victor Wembanyama.
In the fourth quarter, Alvarado chased after a loose ball at full speed and ended up diving into the front row of the stands, knocking into former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 84, who led the city through most of 28-year-old Alvarado’s formative years.
“Great to meet NYC’s homegrown star,” Bloomberg said Tuesday in a social media post tagging the player. “But next time, Jose, just call me. Let’s go Knicks!”
Alvarado’s time spent playing in gyms like the one at the Williamsburg Community Center paved the way for a high school career at hoops powerhouse Christ the King in Middle Village, Queens, and then in college at Georgia Tech.
He’s played in the NBA since 2021, starting his career with the New Orleans Pelicans before being traded to the Knicks in February of this year.
After the Knicks' Game 1 win in San Antonio last week, New Yorkers in Williamsburg's south side celebrated the homegrown talent that the neighborhood produced.
Dressed in a blue Knicks T-shirt and matching hat, lifelong fan Nissie Santiago said she was “so happy” that Alvarado made it to the finals.
“It feels like a way of giving back, especially that he comes from this community, Hispanic background,” she said. “[I’m] rooting for him, supporting him.”
Having a local on the squad means a lot to Luis Lopez.
“ It shows what we can do over here, right?” Lopez said. “There's talent and all types of different creeds come from right here in Williamsburg, and we've been here. So Alvarado doing what he's doing is really helpful to us.”
