From the moment he arrived in Cleveland, things didn't quite work out for Isaiah Thomas as a Cavaliers player.

It was a tough start as he had to wait until January to make his debut with his new team after being sidelined with a hip injury for the opening months of the season.

When he did finally return to the court, he struggled to find a rhythm and a fit alongside LeBron James.

The Cavs endured a horrendous slump in January and it led to disharmony in the locker room.

Thomas was having little impact on the court and was reportedly becoming a disruption off it as he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and call certain players out.

With a number of heavy losses and a fractured relationship between players, the Cleveland front office was left with little choice but to make changes.

Prior to the trade deadline, they offloaded six players - Isaiah, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Iman Shumpert and Channing Frye - and brought in four - George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr.

IT was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers and he immediately looked like the player he was last year with the Boston Celtics as he posted 22 points on his debut.

After the game, he declared that he had his "powers back" and after taking part in his first practice session with the Purple and Gold, he decided to take a subtle dig at his old team.

"I mean, this is the first real practice I had all year," Thomas said, per Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints. "Let's see how my hip responds tomorrow with the soreness and things like that, but I'm here. I'm here and I'm happy. Got my joy back and I'm ready to put on a show for the Lakers."

The Cavaliers were known for not conducting many practice session, particularly as they had the oldest roster in the league prior to the trades.

As a result, the two-time All-Star believed it would take him much longer to get back to full health and at his best level again.

But he looked more comfortable in his 31-minute outing with the Lakers than he did in 15 games in Cleveland and he already feels like he's enjoying his basketball again.

"I'm happy to be a Laker. I'm happy to be in Los Angeles and to get that joy and happiness back of playing and just working hard each and every day," Thomas said.

"When you hit adversity, you don't go your separate ways. You keep going, and I think in this organisation, everybody's here to play for each other and have a positive mindset when it comes to it."

Interestingly, Crowder also pointed to having fun again on the court as he also enjoyed a positive debut with the Utah Jazz.

It's certainly clear that a parting of the ways was the best thing for the former Celtics men and the Cavs.