TLDR:
- Yes, the Chicago Bulls cut Jaden Ivey — hours after he posted videos criticizing the NBA’s embrace of Pride Month.
- The Bulls called it “conduct detrimental to the team.” Ivey called that a dodge.
- Ivey also questioned whether Stephen Curry is a genuine Christian and said NBA championships won’t “matter on judgment day.”
- Ivey is a free agent this summer and wonders aloud whether being “too religious” will cost him his next deal.
The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey on Monday, hours after he posted Instagram videos questioning the NBA’s promotion of Pride Month — and then, once he got the news, publicly dared the team to be honest about why.
In his original post, Mr. Ivey framed the league’s Pride Month messaging as a moral conflict with his Christian faith. “They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA,” he said. “They show it to the world. They say come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.”
The Bulls responded by citing “conduct detrimental to the team.” That night, recording from an airplane, Mr. Ivey wasn’t buying it.
“They said my conduct was detrimental to the team, right?” the 24-year-old said. “Why didn’t they just say, ’We disagree with his stance on LGBTQ?’ What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players?”
In the same post, Mr. Ivey turned his sights on Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry — one of the NBA’s most prominent self-described Christians. “Y’all think he’s a Christian, but he’s cursing just like the world,” Mr. Ivey said. He also noted that championships won by players like LeBron James and Michael Jordan won’t “matter on judgment day.”
Bulls coach Billy Donovan addressed the situation before Monday’s game in San Antonio, stopping short of specifics. “I think there’s got to be a high level of respect for one another,” Mr. Donovan said. “I hope for him that he is OK.”
Mr. Ivey — the son of Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey — had spent recent weeks posting increasingly extensive religious content to social media. When he arrived in Chicago earlier this year, he signaled a personal transformation: “I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ.”
Mr. Ivey, a former first-round pick acquired from Detroit before February’s trade deadline, played just five games in Chicago before a knee injury ended his season. He was already slated for free agency this summer, but suggested Monday that his outspokenness could make that search difficult. “Other teams may not bring me in because I’m ’too religious,’” he said.
Read more:
• Bulls’ Ivey released after questioning NBA’s Pride Month initiatives
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