Jose Alvarado (PG, NOP): Week 23 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues

ROSTERED IN: 12% of leagues

ANALYSIS: You have to be happy for Jose Alvarado and his underdog story. Alvarado will be turning 24 years old in a couple of weeks, went undrafted last summer after spending four years in Georgia Tech, and of course was always seen as a longshot to make the L. But here he is doing it for the Pelicans these days, and not precisely to low levels of play all things considered. The Pelicans are play-in caliber but missing key players in Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson for short and long stretches respectively. The solutions have been patches, and Alvarado has been of those who surely have stuck with the squad.

Alvarado has been with the NBA squad from the get-go, don't get that wrong. He debuted all the way back on Nov. 3 and has already added 45 games played to his pro-record. The thing is, Alvarado was playing 13 MPG before the ASB (even though he had a nice run in February on a larger role) compared to  20 MPG after the All-Star weekend and an even bulkier 25 MPG in the past two weeks of play (six games) through Friday. Alvarado is now playing to an average line of 10-3-6-2. Yes, that's two steals per game for you.

While Alvarado will keep playing his 20+ minutes ROS, he will never get tons of touches and chances to finish plays. The usage rate will probably stay below the average 20% even as part of the second unit, but it's not that Alvarado provides value just on offense. Getting back to those steals, Alvarado is snatching 2.3 balls per game in March and a ridiculous 2.7 in the past two weeks alone. That is more than enough to give JA a chance in deeper formats, and that's not even considering his viable points (10 PPG) and assists (6 APG) of late, making for a quite nice package available for nothing.

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