DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan can learn a lot from each other

HOUSTON — DeMarcus Cousins hates the Clippers. He said so twice in nine words last October after losing to them in the season opener. But Cousins doesn’t hate DeAndre Jordan, his Clippers counterpart.

The two Team USA centers are friends now. They’ll split playing time at Rio 2016 as the United States marches for gold, and there’s no problem in that arrangement between the in-season rivals. It turns out they’re awfully similar. They’re both jokesters and they both lacked a certain amount of maturity when they entered the league.

More importantly, they both care. Deeply.

“I stress over my job every day,” Cousins told SB Nation. “I’m here and I’m still stressing over my job, you know?”

His career with the Kings started with consecutive last-place finishes in the Pacific Division and no playoff appearances to show for his five seasons in Sacramento. The Kings’ 33 wins last year were the most ever in the Boogie era. In a season where fans expected a playoff push, the team hasn’t made much progress.

Cousins’ sarcastic sense of humor is endearing to his teammates, like poking fun at their shooting releases, but it can get him in trouble with coaches and referees. Cousins cares so much about his team’s success, and as the Kings have lost game after game, he has consistently struggled to control that disappointment. There are players who can remove themselves from the winning and losing, but Cousins knows he’s not one of them.

“That’s something that I’ve tried to pick up, but that’s just not me, that’s just not my personality,” Cousins said. “I love my job, I love what I do, and I take it very seriously. It’s kinda hard for me not to stress over something that I love.”

Cousins has made progress. He lashed out at coaches and teammates frequently in his first few years, but he’s learned to not always wear his heart on his sleeve. Even his latest instance of “insubordination” might have been an honest mistake: Cousins insisted, rather seriously, that his tweet “Lord give me the strength” that was taken as a slight of the Kings’ NBA draft was actually referring to hot yoga workouts — which, by all accounts, is quite hellish.

Whatever story you believe, you can see Cousins’ growth as a player if you look closely, even if it demonstrates itself in strange ways — like when he nearly punched Steven Adams in March before restraining himself. Or in his answer to recent comments from Rudy Gay expressing frustration in the franchise’s lack of continuity.

“I believe it’s well known that in the past, we haven’t been where we’ve wanted to be,” Cousins said. “I’m confident that we’re going to move forwards and make the right step. I believe we’re on the right track now. It’s just about us coming together and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

“I can understand (Gay’s) frustration because I’ve been through it with him, but I feel like we’re on the right path right now, so I will say that’s him speaking on past situations. But currently I believe him and myself. We’re going to move forwards and make this thing work.”

Cousins didn’t have that maturity entering the league, but he was a still-growing 20-year-old. “How do you become The Man if you’re still learning how to be a man?” asked Jonathan Abrams in a 2014 profile. Most young players become more serious as they mature from kids to professionals. That’s normal.

That’s certainly what happened with Jordan.

“I’m 28 years old now, you know,” Jordan told SB Nation. “I have a good time off the court, but there’s times on the floor when you’ve got to be serious, you’ve got to take this game seriously.”

Jordan’s challenges are distinctively different from Cousins. Los Angeles was bad when Jordan arrived as an early second-round pick, winning 19 games his rookie year, but the Clippers improved each of the next four seasons. After a 56-win season and second straight playoff berth in the 2012-13 season, Jordan must have thought they would keep rising up the food chain forever. Instead, they collapsed in the playoffs three straight seasons and were passed by an apex predator.

“It’s been tough because you see teams, like, for example, the Warriors, who we were on the same level for a while and now, obviously excelled,” Jordan said, glancing down at Draymond Green sitting nearby.

Jordan insists he’s happy for his peers who have had more playoff success. Many of them are good friends. Four of his Team USA teammates were in the Finals last year, and three more advanced past the first round. But after blowing a 3-1 lead against the Rockets in 2015, the Clippers’ hopes were ruined last playoffs after Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both went down with injuries against Portland.

Those are Jordan’s challenges, but they’re ones Cousins wished he had as he toils away in the lottery. Like Cousins, Jordan’s immaturity was a red flag when he left Texas A&M after one season that saw him buried on the bench. Unlike Cousins, who was drafted fifth overall, Jordan slid all the way down to the second round.

Jordan has learned to control these emotions, channeling them into a more serious veteran mindset. Having every eye in the NBA cast upon him during last year’s free agency when he verbally committed to the Mavericks before backing out to rejoin Los Angeles may have helped quicken that development.

It’s likely this is the only time Jordan and Cousins will be teammates, but five weeks with Team USA is as memorable as it gets. Cousins is seeing firsthand the balance Jordan has struck, that hard work doesn’t have to come at the expense of joking around. That’s the important memory Cousins could carry with him.

“DeAndre’s my guy,” Cousins said. “(He) works on his craft every day. There’s nothing you can really complain about, so great guy to be around.”

It sounds like he’s already learning.