Photo Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

What happens when a player is waived by the Sixers? Sometimes they end up on another NBA team. Sometimes they pop down to the D-League. And sometimes they play in the Philippines in the same league as Manny Pacquiao. That was Daniel Orton’s path, and he did not like it.

Orton was signed as a free agent by the Sixers before the 2013-2014 season and waived before the All-Star break (as is tradition). After that he played in some summer league games, completed a season in China, and then landed with the Purefoods Star Hotshots(!) of the Philippine Basketball Association. Another team in the PBA, the Kia Carnival(!!!), features player-coach Manny Pacquiao. Orton thought this was ridiculous.

Last week, Orton called Pacquiao’s basketball playing a joke, and said:

“Professional boxer? Yeah. Congressman? All right. But professional basketball player? Seriously? It’s a joke.”

As it turns out, criticizing native son Pacquiao is a thoughtcrime in the Philippines. Orton was fined $5,650 for his comments and cut from Purefoods. “Everyone is angry at him,” the team’s top administrator said. “It is like he went to the United States and insulted the name of Martin Luther King.”

The only difference is MLK never played pro ball, and he didn’t average .25 points per game over his first four games. Also, the whole civil rights thing. But yeah, tomato-tomahto.