Q&A: Daniel Orton

Courtesy of Darnell Mayberry

Q: How would you describe what you’ve been through since you left the Thunder?

A: “Leaving the Thunder, you see the greater side of the NBA. I went into Philly and a situation where it was the total opposite. You got a team just trying to rebuild basically from scratch and blowing up anytime you had something going good. So you definitely learn the business side of it.”

You had some crazy things that happened to you. We saw the brawl in China, but could you explain the video and what happened there?

“The play (before) I was driving and the guy fouled me. And I looked at the ref and he was, like, ‘Just keep playing.’ I was, like, ‘OK. Fine. That’s whatever.’ I go back down, come back and the guy just blatantly fouls me on a layup. I fall down on top of him and then you see me in the video trying to get up and I fell back on top of him again. And so I’m trying to stand back up and the picture that the Chinese paper got it looks like I’m about to punch him when, if you watch the video, I’m really just reaching over his leg trying to gather myself. But, of course, they tried to make the foreigner look like the bad guy in the situation, which that’s not at all what it was. And then I’m yelling at him and out of nowhere his teammate just comes and puts me in a headlock. And so that’s pretty much everything that happened.”

And what about the Philippines? Is that something that you just had to learn the hard way? Did you not know that you couldn’t say anything bad about Manny Pacquiao?

“I mean, you know going into the situation — I know who Manyy Pacquiao is. I know what he means to that country. But I didn’t think I was going to be punished as bad as I was for telling the truth, for speaking my mind on it. So I guess that’s just a situation where you’ve got to come into it and be like, ‘Man, let me just keep my mouth shut on this thing.’”

Were you surprised at how harsh or severe the punishment was?

“The fine, not so much. I mean, the fine is OK because I said something about the refs, which I didn’t lie about that either. But I said something about the refs. But just to get kicked off the team was a little crazy. And then for the president of our team to compare Manny Pacquiao to Martin Luther King was just absurd, really. And I kind of just left it all alone. I didn’t really want to say anything because I thought it would die off. But I’m starting to learn now that it’s really not. It was on SportsCenter (a few days ago). It was just incredible to me.”

What have you learned through all your travels and everything that you’ve been through?

“To work my (expletive) off and stay back in the NBA. No lie. That’s the truth. That’s the truth.”