President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE on Tuesday expressed hope that the college basketball players detained in China will soon come home.

“The basketball players, by the way — I know a lot of people are asking — I will tell you, when I heard about it two days ago, I had a great conversation with President Xi [Jinping],” Trump told reporters in Manila.

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“What they did was unfortunate. You know, you're talking about very long prison sentences. They do not play games.”

The Washington Post on Monday reported that Trump during his trip to Asia asked Chinese President Xi for his assistance with the situation involving three UCLA basketball players who were arrested for allegedly shoplifting from a Louis Vuitton store in the eastern part of the country.

The players were detained in Hangzhou one day before Trump arrived in China last week.

“He was terrific, and they're working on it right now,” Trump said of Xi, in regards to the case.

“And hopefully everything is going to work out. And I know they're very grateful because they were told exactly what happened.”

ESPN reported last week that the three players did not fly back to the United States with the rest of the UCLA team after missing the team's game last weekend in Shanghai.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the three players were on a flight to Los Angeles from a Shanghai airport on Tuesday evening.

- This report was updated at 10:23 a.m.