Knicks Players Shine in FIBA World Cup Qualifiers

Two Knicks stepped into this FIBA World Cup qualifying window carrying the same jersey but very different levels of security back home in New York.

One arrived with a fresh contract and a championship glow. The other came in with a question mark hanging over his future.

Jose Alvarado and Pacome Dadiet both got their chances on the international stage this week. What they did with them spoke volumes about where they stand with the Knicks — and where they might be heading.

Alvarado plays like a man who just got paid

In Mar del Plata, with a raucous Argentine crowd on top of him, Jose Alvarado looked every bit like a guard who has carved out his place in the league.

Puerto Rico fell 89-75 to Argentina on Thursday, but Alvarado led his team with 19 points, going 7-of-15 from the field and 3-of-8 from deep. He added six rebounds and four assists, stuffing the box score the way Tom Thibodeau loves his guards to do.

On the opposite bench stood a familiar figure from Knicks lore: Pablo Prigioni, now steering Argentina from the sideline. His team trailed by just a point at halftime before Gabriel Deck, Leandro Bolmaro and Facundo Campazzo took control and blew the game open.

For Alvarado, this window is about more than a single loss.

The Brooklyn native just turned down a $4.5 million player option and still came out with a raise — a three-year deal worth more than $14 million to stay with the Knicks. He earned it in the spring, becoming a key piece in New York’s title run and etching his name into franchise memory in the process.

Everyone in New York remembers Game 4 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio. Down 29, season tilting toward disaster, the Knicks needed someone to drag them back into the fight next to Jalen Brunson. Alvarado answered. Eight points in the fourth quarter. Three assists. Relentless pressure. New York stormed back and flipped the series.

That’s the version of Alvarado Puerto Rico is leaning on now — not the energy guard off the bench, but a primary creator and scorer. The demands are heavier, the ball is in his hands longer, and the margin for error is thinner.

For the Knicks, that’s a bonus. This qualifying window doubles as a live-fire tune-up before training camp, sharpening a guard who now enters the season not wondering if he belongs, but how big a role he can seize.

Alvarado heads to camp with a ring on his finger and a three-year commitment in his pocket. His story in New York is secure enough to breathe, bold enough to grow.

Dadiet fights for a future, not just a role

Pacome Dadiet’s week carried a very different kind of weight.

In Dakar, Senegal, the 25th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft made his senior international debut for Ivory Coast, helping them to an 83-77 win over Mali. The box score tells a complicated story: nine points on 4-of-12 shooting, just 1-of-8 from three, but a game-high nine rebounds, including five on the offensive glass.

The shot betrayed him. The effort didn’t.

This was Dadiet’s first senior game for Ivory Coast after previously representing France at youth level. Born in France to an Ivorian father, he played for France at the 2022 FIBA Under-17 World Cup before choosing to switch and follow the path of his older brother, Maxence.

The timing of that decision is no coincidence.

Dadiet is entering his third NBA season without having locked down a regular rotation spot in New York. On a contender squeezed by the second apron and hunting for more frontcourt help, that’s a dangerous place to be. His name has already surfaced this summer as a potential trade chip, the kind of young, intriguing piece teams ask about when the Knicks come calling.

There’s also a financial clock ticking.

New York has until Oct. 31 to decide on his $5.37 million team option for the 2027-28 season. The Knicks already picked up his third-year option last fall, guaranteeing his $2.98 million salary for this year. The next decision is bigger, both in cost and in what it signals about how the organization truly views his long-term value.

That makes every minute on the floor — anywhere — matter.

Against Mali, the 1-of-8 from deep underlined the gap that still exists in his offensive game. On a Knicks team that thrives on spacing around Brunson, that’s not a small issue. But those nine rebounds, especially the five he ripped down on the offensive glass, showed another path to relevance: energy, length, and a willingness to do the work when the jumper won’t cooperate.

Those are traits that keep a player on the floor when shots aren’t falling. They’re also the traits front offices notice when they debate whether to keep developing a player or move him while his value is still theoretical.

Dadiet isn’t just trying to impress Thibodeau. He’s auditioning for the Knicks’ cap sheet, for rival scouts, for whatever version of his NBA future emerges from this season’s decisions.

Two Knicks. Two World Cup qualifying stories. One plays with the freedom of a man who already convinced New York he belongs. The other plays knowing every rebound, every missed three, every possession might nudge the franchise closer to a $5.37 million decision — or a phone call that ships him somewhere else.

For Alvarado, this feels like the start of a new chapter in a Knicks career that suddenly looks stable. For Pacome Dadiet, the question lingers: how many more pages does he have left in New York before someone else starts writing his story?