The Chicago Bulls waived shooting guard Jaden Ivey “due to conduct detrimental to the team,” the team announced in a statement on Monday.
Ivey had increasingly been posting on social media about his religious beliefs and recently made anti-LGBTQ comments. The Bulls’ decision reportedly came after he criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, which he called “unrighteousness.”
“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.’ “
Prior to the team’s game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, Bulls coach Billy Donovan explained the decision to waive Ivey.
“Just inside the Bulls, we have people from all different kinds of backgrounds,” Donovan told reporters. “And whether it’s coaches, from the top, it’s always been we’re all going to work well together, we’re going to accept each other. We’re going to be hard working, we’re going to be respectful and we’re going to be professional.
“… There’s certain standards I think we want to have as an organization and live up to those each and every day.”
Ivey went on social media Monday night to dispute the Bulls’ characterization of his release.
“They’re liars, bro,” Ivey said on IG Live, according to The Athletic’s Joel Lorenzi. “This is lying. They’re lying saying my conduct is detrimental to the team. That’s a lie. Ask any one of them coaches in there, ‘Was I a good teammate?’”
All I’m preaching about is Jesus Christ and they waived me. But they say I’m crazy, right? I’m psycho.”
The Bulls moved on from Ivey after acquiring him in February, along with Mike Conley, in a three-team trade that sent Kevin Huerter, center Dario Šarić and a future first-round pick swap to the Detroit Pistons in a deal that gave salary-cap relief to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Ivey and Conley are now no longer with the Bulls; the team bought out Conley’s contract shortly after the trade.
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Before his comments, Ivey struggled to find his place on the Bulls. He played in four games, made three starts and had already been ruled out for the season with a knee injury on Thursday.
After what Ivey reportedly believed was his first career DNP, he told Lorenzi he was no longer the player he used to be after his knee injuries.
“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “[The knee soreness is] why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
Before Ivey was traded, he struggled to regain his play and athleticism from his early seasons with the Pistons, who took him with the fifth overall pick out of Purdue in the 2022 NBA Draft. Ivey missed the first 15 games of this season after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee.
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Last season, Ivey missed the second half of the season and the Pistons’ playoff run with a broken fibula in his left leg. Ivey was averaging 17.6 points, 4.1 assists and 4 rebounds before he went down last season.