Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell could soon be joining a new team, but not in the NBA. Rokas Pakenas of 15min reports that Russell wants to play for the Lithuanian national team.
Russell has no Lithuanian ancestry, but could potentially obtain citizenship through his partner Laura Ivaniukas. Ivaniukas is of Lithuanian descent and has two children with the 28-year-old.
Russell’s interest in gaining Lithuanian citizenship has already been relayed to authorities. Frederiks Janson, advisor to the president Gitanas Nauseda, spoke about the situation to Pakenas.
“The President’s institution is aware of the player and his connection to Lithuania, but formal citizenship procedures haven’t been started yet,” Janson said.
According to BasketNews, the parents of Chicago Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis, who had visited the Presidential Palace, presented President Nauseda with the idea of Russell playing for Lithuania.
Lithuania is one of just a few European teams along with Serbia and Latvia to have never had a foreign-born player play for them. The Lithuanian Basketball Federation has never been keen on the prospect, but Nauseda told BasketNews in July that he isn’t averse to naturalization.
“In principle, I would look at the naturalization in a more liberal way, it wouldn’t have to be an artificial naturalization of a person who has no emotional connection to Lithuania,” Nauseda said. “Some kind of an emotional connection would still have to exist,”
“The world is moving in that direction, and the view of it is much more simplified than it was 10 or 20 years ago,” But once again, I wouldn’t want to do it in a fake manner,”
It will be interesting to see how Nauseda views Russell’s case. As for the federation, newly-elected president Mindaugas Balciunas claimed they have spoken to the one-time All-Star’s representatives on the matter.
“Russell’s situation is not news for me, we’ve talked about it with his representatives, but we currently have (Ignas Brazdeikis), so the position of a naturalized player is taken,” Balciunas said.
Ignas Brazdeikis was born in Lithuania, but his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was very young. Brazeikis’ family later moved to Canada, and he represented their national team at youth tournaments. He eventually expressed a desire to play for Lithuania and had his citizenship restored in May 2021.
Brazdeikis made his debut for Lithuania in June 2022 and as Balciunas stated, has taken up the only naturalized player spot available to them. He would have to be removed from the fold if Russell is to be added.
Russell’s focus for now, though, would be on the Lakers. He hasn’t had the greatest of starts to this 2024-25 NBA season, with averages of 11.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game. He has also shot just 39.1% from the field and 29.8% from beyond the arc.
Russell was moved to the bench by the Lakers after eight games this season and initially played well in that role. He has struggled recently, however, and his future with the franchise remains up in the air.
Russell and the Lakers, who are 10-5 on the season, next take on the Denver Nuggets, a team that has given them plenty of problems over the last 18 months or so, at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday at 10:30 PM ET.
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