Lakers designate Ivica Zubac to D-Fenders

The Lakers assigned rookie Ivica Zubac to their NBA Development League team, the D-Fenders.

Zubac was the Lakers’ second-round pick this summer after playing four years in Croatia. He has played in three of the Lakers’ 11 games. Zubac started one game for the Lakers — in their win over the Atlanta Hawks when starting center Timofey Mozgov was sidelined with a left eye contusion.

In those games, Zubac has played 27 total minutes, and has scored seven points and accrued six fouls.

He is expected to be available for the D-Fenders when they play Rio Grande Valley on Thursday. The D-Fenders are 2-0 this season, having beat the Iowa Energy and the Santa Cruz Warriors.

Teams can assign any player who has three or fewer years of experience to a D-League team. They maintain the rights to those assigned players and can call them back to their roster at any time.

The D-Fenders are coached by former Lakers player Coby Karl. Their roster includes two players who were in training camp with the Lakers this season -- former UCLA forward Travis Wear and former USC guard Julian Jacobs.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli