One day in September, Boris Diaw packed his truck with whatever of his worldly possessions would fit and headed northwest.

With his trusty espresso machine riding shotgun and professional photography gear in tow, Diaw hit almost every national park between South Texas and Salt Lake City.

The Grand Canyon. White Sands in New Mexico. The Petrified Forest in Arizona. Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah.

“It took two days, a 25-hour drive,” said Diaw, who naturally chronicled the tour on social media. “But it was cool. Relaxing, even.”

Leave it to Diaw — who makes Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man in the World” look like a homebody — to turn the event of his trade from the Spurs to the Utah Jazz into the ultimate road trip.

Tuesday night, Diaw plays his first game at the AT&T Center since that July deal, swung so the Spurs could finagle salary cap room to sign All-Star big man Pau Gasol.

Those who remember Diaw in San Antonio — and really, who could forget him? — will be heartened to know the 34-year-old forward has not changed with the change of scenery.

“I can’t complain,” Diaw said Monday after a Jazz practice at Trinity University. “Life is good.”

Diaw was in the Philippines on July 5, playing in an Olympic qualifying tournament with the French national team, when he learned his good life would be relocating to Salt Lake City.

His reaction to this major life change was a Diaw-like shrug.

“I knew it was part of the deal,” said Diaw, who spent 4½ seasons with the Spurs and was a beloved member of their 2014 championship squad. “They’re just trying to get better every year and try to win a championship. So they gotta do what they gotta do.”

From the moment they traded Diaw, the Spurs knew they would miss his versatility, his adaptability and his contributions to team chemistry.

And that was just at dinner.

Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills still had not replaced the departed Tiago Splitter in what used to be a road foursome. Now they are down to a twosome, while auditioning Diaw replacements as well.

“We are exploring our options,” said Ginobili, mentioning Gasol and rookies Davis Bertans and Nico Laprovittola as potential successors. “Boris is hard to replace, for sure.”

Early last season, forward LaMarcus Aldridge nicknamed Diaw “Tea Time” for the ease with which he approaches both basketball and life.

Now Diaw has taken his coffee and caffeine obsession to Salt Lake City.

“It’s going to be different seeing him in another jersey,” Mills said. “We talk and stay in touch as friends quite a bit. We were always together exploring cities. Now we’ve got to learn to play against him.”

On the court, Diaw’s numbers typically belied his contributions.

He averaged a modest 7.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists with the Spurs, but his basketball IQ and pass-first style of play gave their bench its “beautiful game” identity.

Diaw’s unique ability to play like a point guard at 6-foot-8 was instrumental in the Spurs’ dismantling of Miami in the 2014 NBA Finals.

“He gave us the ability to stay big and play small at the same time,” coach Gregg Popovich said.

Though the Spurs’ bench has continued to thrive without Diaw, with a plus-29.1 net rating through four games that ranks second in the NBA, it no longer possesses a player with his tool kit.

“He was one of the most unique guys I’ve ever played with,” Spurs guard Danny Green said. “He made the game look very easy. We don’t know how he did it, but he always got it done.”

Diaw’s arrival in Utah marks yet another step in the Spurs-ification of the Jazz organization.

Utah’s general manager, Dennis Lindsey, was once an assistant general manager with the Spurs. Coach Quin Snyder once helmed the Spurs’ Development League affiliate in Austin.

Point guard George Hill was the Spurs’ first-round draft pick in 2008, and played his first three seasons in San Antonio.

Mike Wells, a Jazz assistant coach, was once a scout in the Spurs’ system. A former Spurs equipment manager, Nixon Dorvilien, now serves as Utah’s director of rehabilitation.

“You can sense some similarities in the system and the organization and the way they do things,” Diaw said. “It’s easy to adapt to, because there are a lot of things that are very much the same.”

Diaw is off to a slow start for the Jazz, who have opened 1-2 but nevertheless are expected to contend for the playoffs this season.

He has totaled two points in three games, starting all of them, while making only 1 of 11 field goal tries.

More than likely, life will get easier for Diaw on the court. Off it, life has never been better.

For the unflappable Mr. Diaw, that’s the same as it ever was.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN