Daniel Joseph Orton (born August 6, 1990) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He is a 6-foot 10-inch, 265-pound

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

who played college basketball for the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state's ...

High school career

Orton played for Bishop McGuinness High School in Oklahoma City. Bishop McGuinness won the class 4A state championship Orton's freshman, sophomore, and junior year. During his senior season, he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in his knee, cutting his final season of high school basketball short. He averaged 14 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks per game as a junior. Considered a five-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heck ...

, Orton was listed as the No. 4 center and the No. 22 player in the nation in 2009. He was recruited to the University of Kentucky by

Billy Gillispie Billy Clyde Gillispie ( ; born November 7, 1959), also known by his initials BCG and Billy Clyde, is an American college basketball and current men's basketball coach at Tarleton State. Gillispie had previously been head coach at UTEP, Texas A ...

; however, Gillispie was fired following Orton's senior season. Orton kept his commitment to Kentucky after

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College ...

was hired by the university.

College career

Orton was a reserve on the 2009–10 Kentucky Wildcats basketball team, where he averaged 3.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 13.2 minutes per game. On May 8, 2010, Orton hired an agent and declared himself eligible for the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, Nationa ...

Professional career

With the 29th overall picking the first round of

, the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

selected Daniel Orton. On July 1, 2010, Orton signed his rookie contract with the Magic. On December 1, 2010, it was announced that Orton would be sent to the

New Mexico Thunderbirds New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. In his second game for the Thunderbirds, Orton suffered a season-ending knee injury. Orton made his NBA debut on January 27, 2012, in a Magic loss to the

New Orleans Hornets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. On April 15, 2012, in a win against the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

, Orton scored a career-high 11 points while also recording 5 steals, 4 rebounds, and 3 blocks. In 16 games, he averaged 2.8 points per game. He played his first career playoff game against the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first est ...

. On August 4, 2012, Orton was signed by the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

. On October 27, 2012, Orton was released by the

, after losing out to

DeAndre Liggins DeAndre Desmond Liggins (born March 31, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for Al-Ahli of the Saudi Premier League. He played college basketball for Kentucky. High school career Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Lig ...

for the final roster spot during the pre-season. However, he was re-signed by the team on October 31, 2012, after the team had sent center

Cole Aldrich Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwol ...

to the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Divisio ...

in a trade that also involved

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Harden is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA ...

. The Thunder assigned Orton to the NBA D-League's

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

several times during the 2012–13 season. On October 10, 2013, he was waived by the Thunder. On October 16, 2013, he signed with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Ea ...

. On November 23, 2013, Orton recorded his first double double with 10 points, a career-high 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a 98-106 loss to the Indiana Pacers. On January 7, 2014, he was waived by the 76ers. On January 22, 2014, the Tulsa 66ers traded Orton's rights to the Maine Red Claws. In July 2014, he joined the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

for the

2014 NBA Summer League The 2014 NBA Summer League consists of two pro basketball leagues organized by the NBA and the Orlando Magic just after the 2014 NBA Draft. Ten teams took part in the week-long summer league at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 5 ...

. On September 29, 2014, he signed with the Wizards. However, he was later waived by the Wizards on October 16, 2014. The next day, he signed with

Shanxi Zhongyu The Shanxi Loongs, also known as Shanxi SDIC Raptors Club or Shanxi Fenjiu Shares are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Taiyuan, Shanxi, which plays in the Northern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). The Shanxi Fe ...

of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basi ...

. He was later dismissed by Shanxi in favor of

Jeremy Tyler Jeremy Miles Tyler (born June 21, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Piratas de Quebradillas of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). Tyler was drafted with the 39th pick in the 2011 NBA draft by the Charlotte Bobcat ...

. On December 8, 2014, he signed with the

Sichuan Blue Whales The Sichuan Jinqiang Blue Whales (sometimes spelled Whale) (四川金强蓝鲸), also known as Sichuan Jinqiang or Sichuan Jinrong Industry, are a professional basketball team based in Wenjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, which plays in ...

for the rest of the 2014–15 CBA season. Following the conclusion of CBA regular season, he terminated his contract with the Blue Whales on February 1, 2015. On February 4, he signed with

Purefoods Star Hotshots The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots, or simply known as the Magnolia Hotshots, are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association. The team is owned by San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc., San Miguel Food and Bever ...

of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

. In his first game on February 11, he recorded 16 points and 12 rebounds. After his third game against

Kia Carnival The Kia Carnival ( ko, 기아 카니발) is a minivan manufactured by Kia since 1998. It is marketed globally under various nameplates — prominently as the Kia Sedona — which is now unused in favor of the Carnival. The first generat ...

, he called Kia player-coach (now Senator)

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Phil ...

and the game's referees "a joke". He was summoned by PBA commissioner

Chito Salud Angelico Tiu Salud (born June 17, 1962), better known as Chito Salud, is a Filipino lawyer and sports executive who currently serves as team governor of the Converge Fiber Xers in PBA. He was the first president and CEO of the Philippine Basketba ...

two days after the incident and was fined by the commissioner's office

PHP PHP is a General-purpose programming language, general-purpose scripting language geared toward web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementati ...

250,000 due to his comments. Subsequently, he was sent home by Purefoods' team governor Rene Pardo on February 21. On March 11, he returned to the D-League, this time joining the

Grand Rapids Drive The Grand Rapids Gold are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Denver Nuggets. The Gold play their home games at Van Andel Arena. They began play as the Anaheim ...

. On March 26, he was waived by the Drive. He appeared in six games for the Drive, averaging 6.7 points and 5.8 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game. On March 31, he was acquired by the

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, but was deactivated the following day. On August 20, 2015, Orton signed with

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

. However, he was cut from the team a month later before appearing in a game for them. On November 12, 2015, he was acquired by the Santa Cruz Warriors. On January 18, 2016, he was waived by the Warriors. On May 24, 2016, Orton signed with Hunan Yongsheng of China for the 2016 NBL season. On April 12, 2019 he has signed with Karesi Spor of the

Turkish Basketball First League The Turkish Basketball First League, also called TBL, is the second-tier level league of professional club basketball in Turkey. The league was previously known as Turkish Basketball Second League (TB2L). Format and promotion and relegation The ...

. On November 4, 2021 he has signed with Taoyuan Leopards of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

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Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

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Playoffs

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References

External links

NBA G League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orton, Daniel 1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Taiwan American men's basketball players Basketball players from Oklahoma Centers (basketball) Grand Rapids Drive players Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Koshigaya Alphas players Kumamoto Volters players Kymis B.C. players Leones de Ponce basketball players Magnolia Hotshots players Maine Red Claws players New Mexico Thunderbirds players Oklahoma City Thunder players Orlando Magic draft picks Orlando Magic players Philadelphia 76ers players Philippine Basketball Association imports Santa Cruz Warriors players SeaHorses Mikawa players Sichuan Blue Whales players Sportspeople from Oklahoma City Toyama Grouses players Tulsa 66ers players Fubon Braves players Taoyuan Leopards players Super Basketball League imports