A New Orleans Pelicans player has produced an unfortunate season first.
The NBA announced on Friday that Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado has been fined $2,000 for flopping upon league office review. The incident in question occurred in New Orleans’ game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
In the third quarter at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, La., Alvarado was defending Denver’s Bruce Brown near halfcourt. As Brown made contact with Alvarado, the latter flailed dramatically and fell to the court.
You can see the video of the incident at the link here.
No whistle was blown during the moment in question, and play continued. Denver also went on to prevail over New Orleans, winning by a final score of 125-118.
According to the NBA Official page on X, this is the first postgame flopping fine of the 2025-26 season. The most recent player before Alvarado to draw such fine was (ironically) Pelicans teammate Jordan Poole, who was also docked $2,000 for flopping during a game in March 2025 when he was still with the Washington Wizards.
Alvarado, 27, is averaging 7.2 points and 2.4 assists per game for the 2-13 Pelicans this season. There has recently been some talk that one particular team could be making a trade for Alvarado. But at least for now, Alvarado is still in New Orleans and is having to pay some money to the NBA for his flopping.
