Lakers’ Deng not expected to be affected by Trump’s executive order

The confusion and uncertainty following President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration extended into the sports world and in discussions about the Lakers this weekend.

Although several outlets speculated that the order could prevent Lakers forward Luol Deng from traveling abroad, the order is not expected to affect him.

Deng has dual citizenship with the United Kingdom and South Sudan.

Sudan is one of the seven countries from which immigration has been halted for 90 days, but South Sudan is not. While Deng’s birthplace was in the Sudan at the time of his birth, it is now in the country of South Sudan, and his citizenship is with South Sudan. His family fled as refugees when he was a child and eventually settled in the UK.

The Lakers have already played their one international game, in Toronto, this year. Deng has family in London and regularly travels abroad in the offseason.

The ban encompasses citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Its enactment, and the lack of details about its specifics, led the NBA to seek more clarity.

“We have reached out to the State Department and are in the process of gathering information to understand how this executive order would apply to players in our league who are from one of the impacted countries,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “The NBA is a global league and we are proud to attract the very best players from around the world.”

The Lakers have five players on their roster who are not American — in addition to Deng, Jose Calderon is from Spain, Marcelo Huertas from Brazil, Ivica Zubac is Croatian and grew up in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Timofey Mozgov is from Russia.

At the start of this season, the NBA had 113 international players from 41 countries and territories. None were from any of the seven countries listed in Friday’s executive order. Two — Milwaukee’s Thon Maker and Deng — were from South Sudan.

Russell returns

The Lakers got a welcome sight during Sunday’s practice. Point guard D’Angelo Russell was back in and participated fully.

After practice, Russell said he “feels great.”

“It wasn’t that serious,” Russell said of his injuries. “This one wasn’t that serious. Last injury I would say was a little more serious so I had to take a little time off.”

Russell missed the Lakers’ previous three games because of a mild sprain to the medial collateral ligament in his right knee, and a strain in his right calf. The strain was a bigger issue than the knee sprain, Russell told reporters.

Although the Lakers did not have an official practice on Saturday, players still came in for individual work and some team activities. Lakers Coach Luke Walton said Russell said Saturday that his knee hurt and he couldn’t participate in their three-on-three drill. On Sunday, though, Walton said Russell looked good.

The point guard is listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, but both he and Walton expressed optimism.

“When he’s ready to play, which he looked like today he would be, we expect him to play,” Walton said. “It’s not like we don’t think he can penetrate team’s defenses or anything like that. He was moving great today getting downhill, getting in the paint, playmaking for people. If he’s cleared to play we would expect what we always expect out of him. He looked better today, but it was good to see.”

Randle visits

Starting power forward Julius Randle attended practice on Sunday, but simply sat to the side wearing a hooded sweatshirt, watching.

Randle was diagnosed with pneumonia on Saturday, after being examined by doctors. He fell ill last week and played on Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers despite feeling sick. On Thursday against the Utah Jazz, the Lakers held Randle out of the game, but kept him active in case they needed him.

“He said the training staff said he’s not contagious,” Walton said. “I won’t touch him. But he says he’s not contagious. … I was surprised [at the diagnosis]. I felt bad I got on him that bad in the film session the next day. But he seems to be doing better so that’s a good sign.”

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

@taniaganguli