The ex-Spur that’s had the most fun since leaving San Antonio

Which former Spur that is currently active has had the most fun career since leaving San Antonio? It doesn’t have to be the best career, just the most exciting/unexpected/unique journey as an ex-Spur.

Marilyn Dubinski: Less than two seasons away may not be much of a “journey” (yet), but I’ll go with Danny Green. After winning a second championship in Toronto, he moved on another contender in the Lakers. To make it even better, he’s back with his best buddy LeBron James, just as he began his career, except now he’s an actual starter alongside the King instead of merely his sideline dancing partner. Off the court, he has started his own podcast since leaving the Spurs and has become a bit of a celebrity in his own right, making his spot in LA all the more fitting. Whether he stays with the Lakers long-term or moves on, he’s exactly the type of role player both on and off the court that every championship team could use, so odds are wherever his journey takes him, he will always be contending for championships.

Mark Barrington: I’m going to go with one of my favorite people in the whole world, definitely not a superstar player, but a fun individual who makes everything better just by being here. It’s Boban Marjanovic, of course. He didn’t play much at Detroit, and after short stints at the Clippers and Sixers he’s carving out a role in Dallas as everyone’s favorite flat-footed dunker and part-time movie star, including a monster 31 point performance shortly before the league shut down in March. Hopefully, eventually he can return to San Antonio, and bring Keanu Reeves with him.

Bruno Passos: Aron Baynes flourished in Boston and Phoenix on the back of his usual smart, gritty game and a new green light to bomb away from three that he didn’t have here while, after failing to win a role in San Antonio and being traded to Toronto for Austin Daye, Nando de Colo is a king in Euroleague. But there’s really only one answer, and it’s Kawhi Leonard.

Who else can claim anything close to his objectively successful scorched-earth exit from the team he’d soured on, followed by carrying that next team to the only championship in its history (and getting his most iconic game-winner along the way) while savoring some sweet vindication against the Warriors for what happened in 2017? And that’s before simply bouncing from that city as an unassailable hero, using his clout to trigger another major trade, and making his way to the market he’d been hoping to all along. He even rebranded as the Fun Guy!

Jesus Gomez: I wasn’t sure Aron Baynes was an NBA player when the Spurs first signed him. I went to look at his numbers in Europe and other than his outstanding rebounding, nothing popped. It took him a while to outplay Jeff Ayres and while he carved up a role for himself once he did, by the time he left San Antonio he seemed like the type of solid but unspectacular traditional center that the league was leaving behind.

Since then, Baynes has undergone a massive transformation. In Detroit he remained the same player he was with the Spurs, but in his stops with Celtics and now Suns he’s developed a three-point shot out of nowhere. Baynes is now also a capable passer and talkative defender who could probably start for several teams.

Baynes’ career before joining the Spurs was interesting enough, as he went from being an overweight fringe prospect that went undrafted to intriguing overseas product. But the journey he’s taken since his time in San Antonio is somehow even more unexpected and unique.

J.R. Wilco: I’ve got to go with George Hill. Pop traded his “favorite player” to the Pacers after coaching him for three years, and the man from IUPUI helped form a hellacious defensive starting five (with all-stars Paul George and Roy Hibbert plus Lance Stephenson and David West) that took LeBron’s Heatles to 7 games before eventually coming apart at the seams. Hill spent a season in Utah before getting paid with Sacramento and spending some time in Cleveland. And now — he’s in his 12th year in the league, shooting .480 from three and .530 from the field while playing with the reigning MVP for a Bucks squad that sports the NBA’s best record and has one of the best shots at the title in the Bubble this summer.

That sounds fun to me.