The Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the busiest teams on trade deadline day earlier this week on Thursday, but one of the biggest losers from that day was one of their former players in Isaiah Thomas. 

Cleveland sent Thomas, Channing Frye and a 2018 first-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr on NBA trade deadline day, bringing his time with the Eastern Conference side to an end after just 15 games.

However, on his debut for his new team in the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, the point guard shined and got his time with the Western Conference side off to a great start despite the criticism he has received since the trade went through.

Thomas came off the bench and scored 22 points with one rebound, six assists, one steal, and was 7-of-12 from the field in the Lakers' 130-123 defeat to the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center yesterday. By the end of the game, the man himself felt great with what he did on the court.

Thomas felt like his old self on the court for the Lakers, as he said to ESPN: "I wanted to bring something to the table. I felt like I got my powers back playing on this team."

Lakers head coach Luke Walton was happy with the point guard's performance on the court against the Mavericks, as he said after the game: "He brings another dimension to what we have. When he is able to control pick-and-rolls and get people shots, obviously we couldn't run a ton of stuff because he has been with us for one day, but he was good."

Considering Thomas was only traded to the Lakers on Thursday and only received the team's playbook on Friday night, he had a pretty decent debut with his new team. He did have six turnovers in the game, but many of those were down to lack of familiarity with his new teammates on the court.

The point guard is hoping to get better by the time Los Angeles plays next, as he said: "As I get more familiar with the guys and playbook, it will be even better, especially in close games, executing down the stretch.

"I had one key turnover where I might have jumped and didn't know where guys are. That is just getting familiar with each other ... it is tough putting a new guy out there. I mean, I don't know really any plays."

Thomas has three days to learn the team's playbook, as the Lakers play next in New Orleans against the Pelicans on Wednesday.