The bad luck of the Pelicans with injuries strikes again

In the NBA, few teams have worse luck with injuries than the New Orleans Pelicans. Over the past few years, the Louisiana franchise has been greatly affected by this. In fact, they are not spared from this problem even in the offseason. Jose Alvarado got hurt playing for Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico's journey in the AmeriCup 2025 came to a halt in the quarterfinals after a tight overtime loss to Argentina. Beyond the result, the major concern of the night was the injury to José Alvarado, the point guard of the New Orleans Pelicans and one of the most recognizable players in the Puerto Rican team.

During an intense battle for a rebound in overtime, Alvarado fell hard on his tailbone and lay on the court for several minutes, leading to an immediate silence in the arena. The player needed to be carried off on a stretcher, a moment that raised alarms both on the Puerto Rican bench and in New Orleans as the upcoming competition approaches.

The tension, however, dissipated a few hours later. Alvarado himself reassured everyone with a message on his Instagram account: “Thanks for the love, friends. But your boy is fine. God helped me”.

A Key Role in the 2025-26 Pelicans

This season, Alvarado faces his first year under the two-year, $9 million contract extension signed in 2024. The deal guarantees him $4.5 million this season and comes just as the player is expected to take on a more prominent role within the Pelicans, due to the extended absence of Dejounte Murray, who is still recovering from the Achilles tendon rupture suffered in the final stretch of last season.

Murray's injury opens the door for Alvarado, a player who has gained recognition in the league for his defensive intensity, energy, and ability to impact games off the bench, to take on the responsibility of handling more minutes as the primary playmaker.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, La mala suerte de los Pelicans con las lesiones azota de nuevo