The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team\u201d on Monday, hours after an Instagram livestream in which he delivered targeted comments about the NBA\u2019s advocacy of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
Ivey, whose season was shut down on Thursday while he manages left knee pain, has taken to Instagram live three times since the Bulls announced the news of him being shut down last week, delivering inflammatory comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?\u201d Ivey told viewers via livestream on Monday morning. \u201cThey proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, \u2018Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.\u2019 They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ivey\u2019s Instagram account has more than 200,000 followers. Monday\u2019s comments were part of an extensive livestream, his third over the past week in which he spoke extensively on his religious beliefs.<\/p>\n
The NBA has not commented on Ivey\u2019s comments or release.<\/p>\n
Bulls coach Billy Donovan talked about the decision before Chicago\u2019s game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a certain level of standards and expectations that are here,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI mean, we have people from all different walks of life working in the building and players from all different walks of life, right? So, the first thing is, everybody comes with their own personal experiences. But one is, we\u2019ve got to all be professional. I think there\u2019s got to be a high level of respect for one another, and we got to help each other and then be accountable to those standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hours after the Bulls waived him, Ivey went on Instagram Live, where he continued to talk about religion and the NBA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re liars, bro. This is lying,\u201d Ivey said. \u201cThey\u2019re lying saying my conduct is detrimental to the team. That\u2019s a lie. Ask any one of them coaches in there, \u2018Was I a good teammate?\u2019 All I\u2019m preaching about is Jesus Christ and they waived me. They say I\u2019m crazy, right? I\u2019m psycho.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later said, \u201cI didn\u2019t get myself waived. I was in the gym today. I was rehabbing, doing what was required of my job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chicago traded for Ivey at February\u2019s trade deadline in a deal that sent Kevin Huerter to Detroit. Drafted by the Pistons with the fifth pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Ivey was an explosive, promising athlete before suffering a season-ending broken left leg in January, 2025. Ivey, who was set to be a restricted free agent this summer, also underwent surgery on his right knee in October.<\/p>\n
After playing just four games with the Bulls, Ivey was ruled out with knee soreness. Donovan eventually noted that tests showed Ivey needed to strengthen the muscles in his left leg, likely residual effects of such a devastating injury.<\/p>\n
On the night of Feb. 19, when Ivey picked up a DNP (coach\u2019s decision) for what then-interim head coach Wes Unseld Jr. called \u201cstrictly a basketball decision,\u201d Ivey spoke with the media for just over 10 minutes, detailing his view of what he believed to be his first-career DNP.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach (is) looking for players that help win,\u201d Ivey said. \u201cAnd Jesus is looking for those who worship him and spread in the truth. \u2029So I don\u2019t really think that it affects me that much, as far as not playing. I know that that\u2019s why you guys are asking me these questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about his restricted free agency and how he\u2019s approaching this season as it relates to his future, Ivey told reporters, \u201cI don\u2019t really trust the NBA setting. I trust the Lord. \u2029That\u2019s the main thing. He places me where I need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team\u201d on Monday, hours after an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,5184,8028,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-571948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chicago-bulls","11":"tag-detroit-pistons","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}