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February 25, 2015
The lesson is, don’t point out the obvious when it comes to Manny Pacquiao’s “basketball career.”
Daniel Orton, a former University of Kentucky and NBA basketball player, has been released from his latest team in the Philippines after “insulting” the basketball legitimacy of one Manny Pacquiao, boxing superstar, Congressman, karaoke idol, and occasionally “professional basketball player.”
Orton called Pacquiao’s basketball career “a joke,” which it is, but that not only insults Pacquiao, who is celebrity royalty in the country, but the league’s standards, too, as it sort of admits that Pacquiao plays just because he wants to, which is pretty much the case and all, but nobody wants to go around admitting it.
This is how one official saw it:
“Everyone is angry at him… it is like he went to the United States and insulted the name of Martin Luther King,” the ABS-CBN news website quoted [team administrator Rene] Pardo as saying.
Orton, 24, played one season at Kentucky in 2010-11, and had bit roles with the Magic, Thunder, and 76ers over three seasons in the NBA, where he was last with the Washington Wizards as part of their summer league team. He was released in October, and played briefly in China with the Sichuan Blue Whales before joining the PBA earlier this month.
Orton was diplomatic on Twitter about his release:
I thank God for my time in the Philippines and thank Purefoods for everything. I wish the team the best of luck this conference!! God Bless!
— Daniel Orton (@D_Orton33) February 23, 2015
Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KO) will finally face Floyd Mayweather (47-0, 26 KO) in a long-awaited dream fight on May 2 in Las Vegas.
