Isaiah Thomas proudly made his Los Angeles Lakers debut in a pair of Kobe Bryant's Nike sneakers, perhaps the best way to automatically endear himself to the L.A. crowd upon making his first stint in purple-and-gold.

Thomas put up a sharp 22 points off the bench through his 31 minutes on the floor, largely aided by the Mamba Mentality on his feet, despite a 130-123 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

“Low tops are perfect for me and I gotta support the best player to ever play, so I am Team Kobe,” said the 5-foot-9 dynamo.

Thomas has been wearing Bryant's low-top sneakers for the last few years of his career, but the kicks mean a lot more now that he's in a Lakers' uniform, as they've held a special meaning for the city.

The Washington native has been known to talk and consult with Bryant multiple times within the last couple of seasons, and has vocally attributed part of his success to Bryant's mentorship and sound advice after playing 20 seasons in the league.

Thomas now finds himself wearing a third different uniform in the last eight months, but has kept the hopes up that a spry, up-tempo play style under Luke Walton would favor his game for the rest of the season.

The 29-year-old connected on seven of his 12 shots from the field, burying 4-of-8 from deep and a clean 4-of-4 from the charity stripe while making his team debut. If his shoes can bring back a bit of the Kobe magic back to this young team, it will be more than just a solid choice of wardrobe for the former All-Star point guard.