Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid has a forever friend in Jose Alvarado

Ah, the double-technical; a call so non-commital that nothing much changes in the game but a stop of possession.

Normally, when two players are called for a double-tech they get a little angry, get a little annoyed, or simply laugh it off, but in the Philadelphia 76ers' win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the double-technical called on Joel Embiid and rookie two-way guard Jose Alvarado didn't just end like that. No, the call resulted in a… lifelong friendship?

Yes, you read that correctly; instead of anger, resentment, annoyance, or animosity, the call might have brought together a pair of players on opposite ends of the NBA spectrum together in a way few other calls could.

Why? Because Joel Embiid opted to pay for Jose Alvarado's fine in an act of good faith towards a young, two-way player just now making some money at the NBA level.

The Philadelphia 76ers' superstar center passed along some of his fortune.

Joel Embiid gets paid roughly $385,114.51 for every game of regular season basketball. If he plays, he gets $385,114.51, if he's injured/sick he gets $385,114.51, and if he just needs a personal day to take his son to the doctors, get his taxes done, or serve on jury duty, that $385,114.51 will still end up in his bank account whenever payday rolls around.

Jose Alvarado – the basketball player, not the Philadelphia Phillies' reliever – does not have that same financial windfall to fall back on.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Alvarado was a four-year contributor at Georgia Tech, where he played 106 games with 104 starts. Despite scoring 1,429 points in 3,702 minutes against many a player in the NBA today, the 6-foot-0 point guard was bypassed in the 2021 NBA Draft and ultimately landed in New Orleans on a two-way contract in August.

While things have gotten better for two-way players at the NBA level as of late, as they can now spend the entire season with their big team without a days/games restriction, they still only make $449,155 according to AS, which is a good bit more money than the $81,955 two-way guys initially made when the contract came into fruition but isn't exactly generational wealth.

For a guy like Embiid, a $2,000 technical foul fine is nothing. It accounts for 0.7 percent of one game check, or 0.00009 percent of his 2021-22 contract, but for a player like Alvarado, who has completed exactly zero professional seasons and could conceivably be released at any given time, that money is a non-insignificant hit to the checkbook, especially now, in tax season.

Enter one Joel Hans "The Process" Embiid, who swooped in and covered the tab, likely with some spare change he found under the cushions of his really big, really expensive couch.

Is this story a bit of a nothing burger? Yes, it sort of is, but I'm a firm believer that true character comes out when someone helps a person out with nothing expected in return. Regardless of who initiated the behavior that brought about the technical foul or who was "at fault," Joel Embiid reached out to a fellow player and offered to help him out because he had the means to do so. Needless to say, that $3,000 surely means a lot more to Jose Alvarado than JoJo, as no matter how his career turns out, or if he somehow ends up with the Philadelphia 76ers at some point in the future, he can tell his friends, kids, and grandkids forever that one of the NBA's all-time great players paid his fine.

Adblock test (Why?)