Jeremiah Fears was a 1-year baby still in diapers when DeAndre Jordan was drafted.
So it’s understandable why the New Orleans Pelicans’ rookie guard refers to his veteran teammates as “Unc.”
Jordan, who turns 38 in July, is almost twice as old as the 19-year old Fears.
With Jordan’s age and 18 years of NBA experience comes a ton of wisdom.
It’s why you won’t find many players who have played in just 12 games this season who have had a bigger impact on their team than Jordan.
His presence in New Orleans has been worth far more than his 4.4 points per game average.
“It takes a village to do this,” said Pelicans’ interim head coach James Borrego. “There are so many people that go into an NBA season to make it work. To see the growth of our young team, DeAndre had a massive impact on that. He brought professionalism every day. A voice every day. A respect for every drill, every practice and every moment together.”
Jordan’s presence didn’t lead to more wins. The Pelicans have won just 26 games heading into Sunday’s season finale at the Minnesota Timberwolves. They’ll miss the playoffs for a second straight year. The team may not be any better than it was before Jordan’s arrival. But the young players are.
“He’s the big brother,” said rookie Micah Peavy. “Off the court, he helps you a lot. He’s been in the league a long time so he’s someone I go and talk to about anything. Not just basketball. Life. Investments. Anything. He’s been in this thing a long time.”
Jordan, the ultimate pro, is grooming players to be pros as well.
Earlier in the season, rookie Derik Queen was sitting down for a postgame interview after recording a triple double. Jordan told Queen to stand up while talking to the media. Queen obliged. Jordan doesn’t just preach professionalism to the rookies. He was recently seen scolding Herb Jones after Jones got a costly technical foul late in a game. He makes sure everyone is accountable.
“I just always wanted to encourage my teammates,” Jordan said. “We are an extension of each other. The better they are, the better we are as a team. It’s still a competition at the end of the day because you’re playing for shots and minutes and contracts and all that stuff. That is a big deal. But it’s also a love of the game and wanting somebody else to succeed. When we win, everybody wins.”
Jordan’s goodwill hasn’t gone unnoticed. He is one of 12 finalists for the NBA’s Teammate of the Year Award. He’s been nominated for the award in year’s past.
“I guess that means people like me,” Jordan said.
Then he laughed and pointed towards Fears as he walked by in the background.
“It’s a tough job dealing with a 19-year old,” Jordan said.
But Jordan admits there is a plus side to having teammates almost half his age.
“They keep me young, so I appreciate those guys,” Jordan said. “As much as I’m doing for them, they do a lot of me too.”
That includes keeping Jordan up to date on the latest music. Before this season, Jordan wasn’t too familiar with rapper NBA YoungBoy. Now he knows all about the music of the rapper from Baton Rouge.
Jordan understands the importance of having a veteran like himself in the locker room.
“It’s huge,” Jordan said. “The league is only getting younger. When I came in the league, it was an older league back then. Now it’s getting younger and younger, so I think it’s good to have guys around who can help keep the locker room in good spirits and keep that old school, hard nose tough mentality with the guys and help them understand the ways of the league that they don’t know yet.”
Jordan credits the veterans he had for showing him the way. Marcus Camby was one of the best mentors he had. He also lists guys like Baron Davis, Chauncey Billups, Grant Hill, Zach Randolph and Chris Paul.
“I listened to a lot of things that my vets said and I kinda took things for my growth and my mindset and made it my own,” Jordan said.
The players aren’t the only ones Jordan has inspired this season. His coach has felt it too.
“I show up every day saying I want to be better because of that guy,” Borrego said. “To me, that’s what leadership is about. Where I’m at, wherever life takes me over the next 20 years, I hope DeAndre is a part of it in some degree.”
Jordan isn’t sure how much longer he’ll play. He says he’s just taking it one year at a time.
Is coaching in his future?
“I don’t want to get gray hair just yet,” he said. “I have jet black hair up here. So we’ll see. It’s humbling and cool that I’ve been around this long.”
He’s been around so long that some of his younger teammates remember being kids watching Jordan throw down all those dunks when he played with the Lob City version of the Los Angeles Clippers. Some even played as Jordan on their 2K video games. That’s back when Jordan was one of the league’s most dominant big men. He made three All-NBA teams and led the league in rebounding twice. He can still jump out of the gym, as he showed in some of the few games he’s played this season.
But he’s making a bigger splash now below the rim. He wants to see the guys who call him “Unc” have the same success he had.
“I always tell them that I want to come back and watch them play and watch them have All-Star seasons,” Jordan said. “I want to see their growth so they can give it back to the next generation.”
Coming into the season, Borrego had no clue that Jordan would play such a key role this season.
“I could give you a list of guys in the league that are looked at as potential veterans that you want at the end of your bench,” Borrego said. “Those are hard to find. There aren’t a lot of them out there. I didn’t have DeAndre on that list. … The leader, the man, the father, the professional he is. I didn’t know that. He’s touched every part of our program.”