New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado stars in the latest campaign for New Balance and Aimé Leon Dore, the popular Lower East Side menswear store.
The undrafted guard from Georgia Tech is originally from Brooklyn and he attended Christ The King High School — the same school as Sue Bird and Lamar Odom.
Alvarado, who is known for hiding on the court and sneaking up to force turnovers, is first seen practicing free throws at the ALD / NB Masaryk Community Gym on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. He then watches game highlights with his mother as she tells him she always knew he was going to be special.
We then see some beautiful shots of New York City as Alvarado talks about the tenacious basketball culture that he grew up around. He also discusses his father’s boxing career and creating his own legacy.
“My goal was to take this orange ball as far I can,” Alvarado says.
Despite going undrafted out of college, the former Georgia Tech standout cracked the rotation for the Pelicans during his first year in the league. He played an instrumental role for the team during their postseason run.
Alvarado played AAU basketball for the legendary NY Rens program, but this campaign is a collaboration with Team SONNY, a 15U AAU basketball team.
Visual artist Tyrrell Winston, who we profiled earlier this year, has an installation at the flagship Aimé Leon Dore store. Mike Sykes reviewed the ALD 550 for our sneaker show, Special Delivery.
