A month ago on a sunny morning in Playa Vista, Lance Stephenson pulled into the Clippers practice facility in his custom white Chevy Camaro.

The car ahead of him had punched in the code and the security gate opened, and the car drove through.

Stephenson, just entering the driveway, saw an opening. He accelerated as the gate began to shut, hoping to sneak in.

But instead of the sensors recognizing the car, the gate continued to shut, crashing into Stephenson’s ride, leaving him, literally, partly in and partly out of the Clippers’ complex.

It’s a pretty apt metaphor for his eight months or so with the team.

He was a starter and out of the rotation. He was a point guard and a power forward. He was a good teammate and a total wild card.

Stephenson was traded to Memphis on Thursday in the final moments before the trade deadline, a reminder of how he never truly found his way with the Clippers.

One of the team’s major acquisitions last summer, Stephenson opened the season as the starting small forward, but an inability to grasp the Clippers’ systems quickly pushed him first to the bench and then out of the rotation.

A fantastically exciting player, Stephenson would throw no-look passes for assists and he’d throw them into the seats. He could dribble and shake like a playground legend, and end up finishing the play like a rec league has-been.

He was all over the place in the best and worst ways.

Behind the scenes, teammates, coaches and staff members insist Stephenson wasn’t a problem.

He badly wanted to do the right things on the court. He cracked teammates up with his off-center sense of humor, and the cult of Born Ready was always interesting.

Before games, he’d be prone to devouring an entire plate of orange slices. After them, he’d mock their dancing on Instagram or poke fun at the memes his on-court antics created.

He dressed as Puff Daddy for Halloween.

The Clippers enjoyed Stephenson enough that one staffer said the team would look to re-sign him this summer, assuming Memphis declines its team option on his deal.

It would make sense for Stephenson to return to the Clippers.

Forty games into the season, he started to make strides as a makeshift power forward off the bench. His understanding of the Clippers’ offensive and defensive systems progressed.

Stephenson had his best success after two seasons in Indiana, when he was fully accustomed to everything they ran. Since then, he’s played for two separate teams in two seasons while now headed for a third.

A few weeks before the All-Star break, Stephenson stood up in the Clipper locker room, snacking away on the pregame fruit when he was asked about the condition of his car.

“My joint’s still dented,” he said with a chuckle.

Maybe it’ll get fixed. Maybe it won’t.

That’s Lance Stephenson in a nutshell.

CLIPPERS, SPURS ATTEND FUNERAL

Before the Clippers faced the Spurs, members from both organizations attended Ingrid Williams’ funeral services in Oklahoma City. Williams, the wife of Thunder assistant Monty Williams, died last week in a car accident.

Coach Doc Rivers, Austin Rivers and Chris Paul were among the members of the Clippers organization who attended. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan and David West also were there.

“It was tough,” Austin Rivers said. “You just see something like that happen to such a good guy. Monty, no one deserves anything like that but let alone someone like that or a family like that, most importantly. Ingrid was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met just from my days in New Orleans, so just to see that happen to the family, the kids are so young.

“But Monty was amazing today. His speech was incredible. I mean, he was probably one of the strongest ones in there, honestly. So it was a great service. It’s been a long day but it is what it is.”

NOTES

Rivers, who has been out since the first game of the month with a broken band in left hand said he should be back on the court within the next 10 days. … The Clippers received multiple inquries on second-year guard C.J. Wilcox, turning down a trade with Chicago that involved Wilcox and a second-round pick for Tony Snell.