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Jaden Ivey #23 of the Chicago Bulls drives to the basket against Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets during the first quarter at the United Center on February 07, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.
Fourth-year guard Jaden Ivey called out the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, shortly before the Chicago Bulls waived him on Monday.
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right? They proclaim Pride Month—and the NBA does too. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness,’” Ivey said in an IG live stream on Monday, via NBA Central.
Nearly all 30 NBA teams host Pride Night events throughout the 82-game regular season calendar. The Boston Celtics did so most recently on March 27 when they hosted the Atlanta Hawks at TD Garden.
Jaden Ivey Waived by Bulls
Amid Ivey’s outrageous IG comments, the Chicago Bulls waived him on Monday. Ivey was originally slated to be a Restricted Free Agent this summer after the Bulls acquired him from the Detroit Pistons ahead of the February NBA trade deadline.
“The Chicago Bulls are waiving guard Jaden Ivey after his recent anti-LGBTQ comments amid several rants on religion and other topics, sources tell ESPN,” NBA insider Shams Charania wrote on X on Monday.
Over the weekend, Ivey sparked concerns among the NBA community with his IG live posts and back-and-forth exchanges with fans on social media.
“There is growing concern surrounding Jaden Ivey,” Evan Sidery wrote on X, while reacting to an Ivey’s IG live video from Sunday night.
Jaden Ivey Sparks Concerns
“Ivey, who admitted to dealing with depression this year, has deleted all of social media and is now posting hour-long religious rants by himself on Instagram.”
“‘The old me is dead,’ Ivey said earlier this season about his career,” added Sidery.
In the IG live video, Ivey spoke at length about salvation, his past sins and why the game of basketball pales in comparison to the plans that God has for him.
“Y’all don’t take the word of God seriously,” Ivey said.
“…The Lord is not going to say on Judgment Day, ‘What’s the updated score? What’s the score of Purdue Boilermakers? What’s the score of the Detroit Pistons? Jesus is not going to say that on Judgment Day.
“He’s going to say, ‘What did you do for my Kingdom?’”
When one user called out Ivey for “casting a lot of judgment” on others, the NBA guard claimed the user wasn’t “righteous” enough to interact with him.
“You don’t judge righteously because you yourself are not righteous,” Ivey said. “You clearly have a speck in your eye, so you [can’t] get a speck out of someone else’s eye.”
Ivey was once viewed as a blossoming star in the NBA, but a series of injuries derailed his career. Amid a career-best season in 2024-25, he sustained a season-ending broken fibula and then never truly recovered during the 2025-26 season. After missing the first 15 games of the 2025-26 season, he struggled to reclaim his starting role with the Detroit Pistons, averaging just 16.8 minutes over 33 games for J.B. Bickerstaff’s team.
He was ultimately moved to Chicago, where he played five games before being waived.
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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