Since Republican candidate Donald Trump was named president-elect, many refugees and immigrants have been afraid with the possible immigration ban the 70-year-old was talking about. Now that Trump is president, even players from the National Basketball Association are affected as some are from countries which are included in Trump's restricted list.
In Trump's executive order, immigration from seven "countries of concern," namely, Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Iran and Yemen is temporarily blocked. With that rule, the NBA has reached out to the U.S. State Department to learn how the current immigration ban will affect the likes of Thon Maker and Luol Deng, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported.
Maker of the Milwaukee Bucks and Deng of the Los Angeles Lakers, who both have Sudanese roots, are from South Sudan. Though South Sudan is still part of Sudan, which is included in the "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States" executive order of Trump, it is already an independent country since 2011. Although South Sudan is not on the list, there are still chances if Trump would collectively consider the whole Sudan country as one.
NBA spokesman Mike Bass issued a statement saying that the "NBA is a global league" and the league is "proud to attract" the best players from all parts of the world. The league, which has a Basketball Beyond Borders program, has invested in foreign players, including those of Sudanese decent, to make their dreams come true and possibly make the big leap to the NBA.
Also, the NBA has a large number of foreign players amounting to about 29 percent, Sports Illustrated reported. If Maker and Deng will not be affected by the ban, they might choose to stay in the United States since leaving the country and re-entering during the 90-day period might prohibit them from coming back. The good news is no NBA player is subject to deportation under the executive order.
Watch the video below of the top foreign NBA players of all time: