LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers saw their newest trade acquisitions make their debuts Sunday night against the Milwaukee Bucks. Norman Powell and Robert Covington both came off the bench in their first game with their new team and had successful stints, albeit in a blowout loss.

Powell finished with 28 points and four assists on 9-of-16 shooting and 4-of-8 from 3. Powell also got to the line seven times, repeatedly putting pressure on the rim and drawing contact from Bucks defenders.

While Powell put on a show before an ecstatic Clippers crowd, it comes on the heels of one of the most life-changing moves for him. The forward was getting ready for his then-Portland Trail Blazers to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday night. The morning of, Powell got a call he didn't expect from his agent, who informed him he'd been traded to the Clippers.

“Honestly, no,” Norman Powell said on if he expected to be traded. “When my agent called me, I didn’t believe it. I knew they were going to make moves just the way Ant [Simons] was playing and how the team is structured and wanted to build. Some of the guys were talking.”

Powell, who was traded to the Blazers from the Toronto Raptors, signed a five-year, $90 million deal with the Blazers this past offseason. Re-signing in Portland meant he'd be there long term, or at least he thought. A home purchased by Powell in the months after putting ink to paper was just recently furnished. The house finally started to feel like home.

“I definitely didn’t [expect to be traded] just because I signed,” Powell added. “I knew I wasn’t untradable but because I signed the long-term deal. I had, five years, I bought a house out there. I was like, ‘I’m going to be out here for a little bit.' That was the only bad thing about the trade. I just got my furniture into the house so I didn’t really get to enjoy that.”

The San Diego native and UCLA alum, however, is more than excited to come back home to Southern California.

“I definitely didn’t think I was going to be traded, but it feels good. I was excited, I was definitely excited to be coming home.”

Powell joins a Clippers team that is expected to have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back starting next season at the latest. His career so far has mainly featured teams with two stars. First it was DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. Then it was Kawhi Leonard and Lowry. Moving to Portland allowed him to play with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Once healthy, he'll have a chance to play alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

The previous experiences alongside other stars as well as his own personal growth over the last few years should make Powell a perfect fit next to Leonard and George.

“I think what’s so unique about me is I’ve been, literally for all my career, I have been in every single role on the team. The guy fighting and scratching trying to get into the rotation. Being in a rotation, being taken out of a rotation, playing alongside Kyle and DeMar, playing alongside Kyle and Kawhi, playing off of them. So I think I can fit perfectly in here, with PG and Kawhi. I have known them for a while. I have always been talking to PG during the summer and during the season when I would face him.

“It’s good, I think I have developed myself, my game to fit into any role that you need me. On nights when they are not playing or whatever it is, I can be one of the primary guys and I can also be the guy finishing plays when they are drawing all the attention with my ability to shoot the 3, space the floor for them and be able to attack the basket and create from there. I am excited to see when everybody gets healthy and the team and what we can do.”

Powell won the NBA title with the Raptors as a 25-year-old. The now 28-year-old has since had time to grow and mature, and he thinks that'll serve him well with a Clippers roster that desperately needs a reliable offensive weapon.

“I think I’ve been able to mature. I think I don’t get rocked or out of whack, out of sorts when different things are thrown my way. Just mentally being strong and focused on what I have to do. I think my confidence never wavers no matter what’s happening on the floor, how the outcome is on the floor or how the outcome is or my game or my performance. I really believe in myself and the work that I put in each and every day throughout the course of the season and it’s something I work really, really hard on making my weaknesses my strengths and making my strengths even stronger.

“So I think just the maturity from being able to go through that whole experience, that whole playoff run and winning a championship and just being able to go out there and fight. Like I said, I was in every situation, every position with the Raptors, and I’ve gone through a lot and I think all that has helped me and my game grow.”

In his Clippers debut Sunday, Norman Powell displayed his three-level scoring prowess, repeatedly attacking the rim, getting to the line, and creating for himself or his teammates. Tyronn Lue, for one, is ecstatic to have him along for the ride.

“He’s a dynamic scorer,” Lue said after his first game coaching Powell. “Midrange, at the rim, 3-point shot. He can do a lot of things. Like I said, just tonight, made it a little harder for him not really having a traditional point guard, so just got to figure that part of it out. And other than that, I thought he did a really good job just attacking and being aggressive.”

Powell and the Clippers won't have much practice time, but a three-game road trip to Memphis as well as a pair of games in Dallas could certainly help the team get acclimated.

Another thing to watch, however, is the Clippers potentially making another move as the NBA's Thursday afternoon trade deadline grows closer and closer.