Isaiah Thomas looked like the player the Cavs should have never traded

Isaiah Thomas went off for 20 points, nine assists, five rebounds, and a steal in his first game against the Cavaliers since they traded him to the Lakers at the deadline. Los Angeles outscored Cleveland by 18 points in minutes with Thomas on the floor and eventually won, 127-113.

Thomas shot 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from the field and 2-of-7 from downtown. He turned the ball over five times and was exploited in some pick-and-rolls involving George Hill and LeBron James. But against the team that traded him as if he were damaged goods, Thomas flourished. He scored on pull-up jump shots, found open teammates darting to the basket, and looked like a player who was coveted when he wore green and white around this time last year.

The same player who was coveted by a Cavaliers team that gave up on him midway through this season.

Cleveland won four straight games after trading Thomas and several others just before the trade deadline, but they’ve regressed ever since. The Cavaliers have won just four of their last 10 games. Their defensive rating of 109.3 points per 100 possessions ranks 22nd in the NBA since the all-star break.

Cleveland allowed the Nets to score 123 points, the Nuggets to score 126, then the Lakers’ 127. The Cavs have only held three teams to fewer than 100 points since the calendar turned to 2018. It’s nothing new, though. Their defense has been an issue for Cleveland the last two seasons.

But the Cavs have always had an offensive superstar at the point guard position to help offset some of those defensive issues. James is the world’s best basketball player, but there’s only but so much he can do on his own. That’s why Kyrie Irving was so imperative to Cleveland’s championship runs: He took a lot of the pressure off James offensively, and he hit big shots in big moments, the biggest moment winning Cleveland its lone championship in 2016.

When Irving requested a trade, however, Thomas was supposed to at least replace his offensive output. He returned from a hip injury and the Cavaliers never gave him adequate time to get back into playing shape. He’s showing some semblance of the IT4 who averaged 28.9 point per game last season now with the Lakers.

The Cavaliers certainly miss Kevin Love, and Rodney Hood, Tristan Thompson, and Cedi Osman each didn’t play with different injuries. But we’ll never know how things may have panned out had the Cavaliers given Thomas his due time to recover.

What we do know is IT4 is finally getting his feet (and hip) underneath him in the second chapter of his redemption season in Los Angeles. And given the unfortunate events that led his career to the Lakers in the first place, it’s fun to finally see Thomas getting things going to end the year.