D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young back in Lakers’ lineup for game against Knicks

The Lakers starting backcourt is back.

Point guard D’Angelo Russell and shooting guard Nick Young will both play Sunday night against the New York Knicks. Russell has missed 12 games because of a left knee injury while Young has missed six because of a strained right calf muscle. The Lakers enter Sunday on a five-game losing streak in no small part due to the absence of their two starting guards.

Russell and Young will both be on minutes restrictions, though Lakers Coach Luke Walton declined to say how many minutes they would play.

Russell has dealt with knee soreness since last season. He experienced swelling and inflammation that hindered him last month. On Nov. 23, Russell had a platelet-rich plasma injection to aid his healing. The injection required a recovery time of at least two weeks.

Young injured his calf during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Nov. 29. He was expected to miss two to four weeks.

“He’s one of the tough guys in the NBA,” Walton said. “He’ll fight through that stuff for us. I haven’t been around him long enough to know what his healing process is like. He looked really good the last couple days.”

On Saturday, Russell and Young both went through the full Lakers practice, which included drills that involved contact. After that practice, Russell stayed on the court to play in a three-on-three game with his teammates, which was one of the final tests for Russell before he could be cleared.

Young did not participate in that game as he felt fatigued, which increased the chance of his aggravating his injury. He did extra work before a shoot-around at Staples Center, participated in all of the shoot-around, then did some sprinting, sliding and change of direction drills in the hallways of the arena.

The final test for Young came with some pregame shooting, after which Young was officially cleared to play.