Alvarado sometimes performs a comparatively modest rotation function off the bench for the Pelicans, however has began seven of 11 video games and logged main minutes this season because of the group’s harm woes.
In his final six full video games previous to injuring his hamstring on Monday, the 26-year-old had averaged 17.2 factors, 5.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in 33.3 minutes per evening, with a taking pictures line of .422/.447/.800.
Alvarado is certainly one of six Pelicans starters or rotation gamers presently sidelined. The group can also be working with out Zion Williamson (hamstring), Dejounte Murray (hand), CJ McCollum (adductor), Herbert Jones (shoulder), and Jordan Hawkins (again) because of multi-week accidents. Moreover, Trey Murphy (hamstring) missed the group’s first 10 video games earlier than making his season debut on Monday.
Groups can apply for a hardship exception permitting them so as to add an additional participant to their 15-man roster if they’ve 4 gamers who’ve missed at the very least three video games resulting from accidents and are anticipated to stay out for at the very least two extra weeks.
The hardship exception permits for an additional momentary roster spot for every moreover unavailable participant past that minimal four-player threshold, that means the Pelicans may qualify for a number of hardship exceptions as soon as Williamson and Alvarado have missed at the very least three video games apiece. If Hawkins can also be anticipated to overlook an prolonged interval, New Orleans may very well be eligible for as many as three additional roster spots, although the restoration timeline originally reported for Hawkins was only a week or two.
In fact, it’s additionally price noting that hardship signings will depend towards the Pelicans’ group wage for cap and tax functions and the membership is presently working about $2.8M over the luxurious tax line, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. New Orleans, having by no means paid the tax, will probably attempt to sneak under the edge later within the season, so the group could also be cautious about including extra wage to its books, even on 10-day hardship contracts.
After Monday’s loss to Brooklyn, the Pelicans are 3-8, inserting them in a tie with Portland for the No. 13 seed within the Western Convention. New Orleans has a difficult stretch of video games on faucet that features matchups with the Thunder, Nuggets, Lakers, Mavericks, Cavaliers, Warriors and Pacers within the subsequent two weeks.
