How Draymond Green helped ease DeMarcus Cousins’ transition with Warriors

Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins, right, celebrates with forward Draymond Green during the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 in Los Angeles, Calif. Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins, right, celebrates with forward Draymond Green during the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 in Los Angeles, Calif. Photo: Kelvin Kuo / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Kelvin Kuo / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close How Draymond Green helped ease DeMarcus Cousins’ transition with Warriors 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

LOS ANGELES — Warriors forward Draymond Green didn’t think much of it in July when his newest teammate, DeMarcus Cousins, asked him what neighborhood he lived in.

Two months later, after one of his neighbors told him that an NBA player had just moved in down the street, Green pulled up to the house in question to find Cousins’ personal security guard in the driveway. Over the next few hours, Green and Cousins discussed matters bigger than basketball — relationships, parenthood, politics — as they sipped wine.

It was the start of a close friendship that has been a driving force behind Cousins’ smooth transition with Golden State. With Green guiding the way, Cousins has come to view the Bay Area as home. Those closest to Cousins have noticed a joy in him that wasn’t there during the early stages of his rehab from a torn left Achilles tendon he sustained last January while with the Pelicans.

“They just click on a deep level,” DeMarcus’ mother, Monique Cousins-Evans, said of Green and Cousins. “It’s been nice knowing that Draymond is around to kind of help him ease into everything out there.”

In late September, after one of the first video sessions of training camp, Green stood to address the team. With Cousins sitting a few feet away from him, Green told the back-to-back NBA champions to support Cousins throughout his recovery process.

Photo: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant, left, pats center...

Green talked about how isolating it can feel to work through rehab exercises on one’s own while the rest of the team practices. “Inevitably, there will be bad days,” Green explained to the team, “and we need to be there for him during those.”

It was the first time in Cousins’ eight-plus years in the league that a teammate had gone out of his way to advocate for him in a group setting. Over the past four months, players routinely have checked on Cousins to see how he’s feeling.

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“It’s a great group of guys, man,” Cousins said. “You can tell they all fight for one another. It’s nothing but love.”

Green briefly met Cousins, then a freshman at Kentucky, at a banquet during Green’s sophomore season at Michigan State. They didn’t get to know each other until they were USA teammates during the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Both fiery players, Green and Cousins bonded over their affinity for trash talk.

Even then, they didn’t know each other personally. Last summer, after learning that Cousins was considering signing with Golden State on the mid-level exception, Green called to pitch him on playing with the Warriors. Shortly after Cousins moved into his Danville neighborhood, Green started arriving unannounced.

Sometimes, Green walks through the front door and grabs something to eat before letting Cousins know he is there. Cousins has consulted with Green on everything from cleaning services to restaurants.

In mid-November, when Green got into an on-court dispute with teammate Kevin Durant at the end of regulation of an overtime loss to the Clippers, Cousins stepped in to separate the two. After the game, Cousins was a sounding board for Green about the argument.

Green feels a kinship with Cousins, in part because he believes they’re both misunderstood by the public. Many pay more attention to their on-court volatility than their community outreach. Both sons of single mothers, Green understands what drives Cousins.

“When you’re around somebody so much, you realize you identify with them more than you even knew,” Green said. “A lot of people don’t know DeMarcus as a person. They know who they watch on a TV screen, but they don’t know DeMarcus as a person.”

Midway through the second quarter of Cousins’ Warriors debut Friday night against the Clippers, after watching Montrezl Harrell not get whistled for what Green thought was a foul on Cousins, Green unleashed a verbal tirade on referee Eric Lewis and was assessed a technical foul. Such an emotional display on behalf of a teammate is somewhat rare in the NBA, but Cousins was hardly surprised.

Green has been his biggest confidant for months.

“They’ve already developed a really nice connection,” Cousins-Evans said. “They have a lot in common, but I think it goes even deeper than that.”

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron