As evidenced by this Monday's episode of One Tree Hill, Nathan is on his way to becoming a successful agent.

Of course, this was not always the path of the character, who gave up his professional basketball-playing dreams earlier in the season. The storyline basis behind this decision? Health concerns. The reason the show had to switch up Nathan's career? Staging NBA games and teams isn't easy on a budget.

In an interview with Zap2It, Lafferty admits to feeling "melancholy" over the switch, but he also sounds excited:

"It's a good opportunity for us to show a different side of Nathan and for him to show his worth outside of the basketball court... I'm definitely sad to see the basketball go, but it's a welcome challenge for the character, which is a welcome challenge for me."

Changing occupations is never a smooth transition, of course.

"He's still learning," Lafferty says. "He's going to make mistakes and he's going to have missteps, but he's under the guidance of Clay, who is a seasoned veteran in the field. It's going to be a long road for Nathan to become the agent that he wants to be, but... [he] won't stop until he gets it done the right way."

As for Nathan's new, less jerky personality? Lafferty laughs and says he misses "playing him as an ass."

"I look back fondly on those days, definitely, when I got to play Nathan as the villain. It was a blast."

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.