Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell poised to return vs. Hornets

Reporting from Charlotte — Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell went through Monday’s practice and an optional session on Sunday in Charlotte.

“He was great today,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “He came in and worked out yesterday. Did a one-on-zero [private workout] yesterday. Today was pressuring the ball, pushing it on offense. He looked good today.”

Walton is expecting Russell to play on Tuesday against the Charlotte Hornets after the point guard was rested for Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Earlier this season he sat out 12 games because of a left-knee injury before returning Dec. 11.

His condition is something the Lakers will watch.

“Hopefully it doesn’t turn into the type of thing where he misses a game, plays a game, misses a game,” Walton said. “Hopefully that’s not the case. We’ll see how the knee heals.”

Walton added if it does come to that, it would make more sense to shut down Russell until he has healed well enough that he doesn’t need that type of schedule.

“Instead of coming in and out like that, especially at his age, it’s more important to get him healthy,” Walton said. “It’s good for our guys, too, to have a unit that they know they’ll be playing with instead of switching the starting group up all the time, which changes the second group up as well. We’ll keep a close eye on it over the next week or so and kind of see how it’s playing out.”

Backup center Tarik Black participated in part of practice on Monday before pulling himself because of issues relating to his ankle injury. Black sprained his ankle on Dec. 5. He played three minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday but did not play on Saturday despite being available.

The Lakers listed Black as probable for Tuesday’s game.

Luol Deng also missed Monday’s practice after being hit in the back in Cleveland.

“It’s more important that we keep him fresh on this type of long road trip,” Walton said.

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