“Great person off the court, a great leader, and just solid.” With Al Horford lifting his maiden NBA Championship after a seventeen-year wait, his Celtics teammates had nothing but great things to say about him. Well, this should not come as a surprise because, throughout his career, he has garnered praise for his professionalism and has kept his composure even amid adversity. But there was one player back in the day who made Horford break character with his dominance as a rookie. And it was none other than former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins!

Drafted fifth overall in the 2010 draft, Boogie instantly took the league by storm as he was among the rare players with the skills of a guard in a big man’s body. During his rookie year, Horford was in his fourth season and still playing for the Atlanta Hawks. And his then-teammate Jeff Teague recently revealed how Al reacted to a 20-year-old Cousins’ skillset. “I remember Al Horford saying ‘This motherf****r is nice. He nice.’”

Did Al Horford just cuss! Many of you might be wondering. Funnily enough, Teague had the same reaction, “I’m like Al? Yeah, Al don’t cuss.” But that’s how good DC was when he entered the league as he averaged 14.1 points and nearly nine rebounds in his first season with the Kings. And Horford only had one wish as Teague revealed on the Club 520 Podcast, “He was like ‘Man, we gotta stay away from him. He gotta stay in the West.’ Al say he nice that mean he really nice though.” Yes, playing in different conferences, Horford and Cousins never matched up against each other in the playoffs. But Al’s veteran experience did come into play whenever they competed as he holds a 13-4 winning record against Boogie in their regular season matchups.

Did Al Horford’s professionalism take him where DeMarcus Cousins couldn’t go?

Well, if you compare Horford and Cousins from a talent standpoint, many of you would agree that DC is a much more skilled player than Al. Yet, it is Horford who is about to enter the eighteenth year of his career and has a championship to show for it. Meanwhile, Boogie has not played in the league for the last two seasons. So, what went wrong? Sure enough, there are multiple reasons why he couldn’t maximize his potential in the league.

First and foremost, his reputation took an immediate hit soon after he began his career as there were constant tensions between him and the Kings franchise. Moreover, there were even rumors of him demanding a trade in his second season because his vision did not align with the team. While he stayed in Sacramento for seven years, he earned the reputation of being a bad presence in the locker room. Adding to those issues, he even tore his Achilles, which led to a massive decline in his performance. As expected, his market value took a hit as teams were hesitant to add an injured star who could cause problems in the locker room. Although there were brief stints toward the end in Denver and Milwaukee, Cousins was no longer one of the best Centers in the league by that time.

Meanwhile, Horford continued with his professional approach and found a permanent home in Boston where he was able to win his first title this summer. “Just his professionalism. He’s just the best. I mean, the way he takes care of his body, his consistency, who he is as a person, as a great teammate. He’s everything you want in an organization and a coach, and he’s one of the cornerstones of what we do.” Head coach Joe Mazzulla remarked. Do you think the story would have been different for Cousins if he had a similar reputation as Al Horford?