Cleveland Cavaliers: Recapping each trade deadline departure’s career in Cleveland

Isaiah Thomas was brought in to fill the void left by Kyrie Irving. While many expected the ‘Boston IT’, Cleveland only got the chance to see the Isaiah Thomas who still wasn’t close to 100%.

Isaiah Thomas played just 15 games as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Throughout those 15 games, Thomas saw standing ovations, as well as endless booing from the Cleveland crowds. It was obvious Thomas and the Cavs just wasn’t going to work out.

One reason for that was he was very inefficient on the offensive end. Thomas averaged 14.7 points and 4.5 assists while shooting 36.1% from the field and 25.3% from three.

To add on, while this was to be expected, Thomas was a terrible defender. With the Cavs being a bottom tier defense in the league, the combination of Thomas and the Cavaliers just didn’t make sense on that end.

Finally, Thomas just couldn’t find a way to mesh with LeBron James or the rest of the team. He is a ball dominant player who needs the ball to be effective. He would also often call out his teammates and the coaching staff in postgame interviews.

Needless to say, Thomas needed to go. And when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the trade that would send Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers, it was no surprise.

Cleveland wishes IT the best of luck on his new journey. We hope everything works out for him with the Lakers. IT, thank you.