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What did Jaden Ivey say? Explaining sudden release from Bulls after NBA Pride Month rant originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Bulls are waiving guard Jaden Ivey a little more than a month after acquiring his services via trade, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
A former top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Ivey was once considered one of basketball's best prospects. Chicago hoped to resurrect the 24-year old's career following some challenging seasons with the Pistons.
However, Ivey's spot on the team proved precarious after he made anti-LGBTQ comments on social media on Monday. The comments were the latest in a string of events that involved the Purdue alum.
Here's the latest on Ivey's release.
What happened to Jaden Ivey?
Picked by the Pistons No. 5 overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, Ivey was expected to make waves as a part of a budding Detroit backcourt that also featured All-NBA guard Cade Cunningham.
Injuries prevented Ivey from reaching his full potential in the Motor City. Chicago took a punt on the 24-year-old guard at the trade deadline, acquiring him in a deal that sent Kevin Huerter to Detroit.
However, Ivey played just four games before his knee gave out, prompting the Bulls to shut him down for the foreseeable future.
While Ivey's on-court presence was limited, he began to garner headlines for all the wrong reasons off-the-floor. On Feb. 19, Ivey was DNP'd. He gave an impromptu postgame sermon in the locker room, telling reporters that the old him was dead.
"No matter what or how many DNPs I don't get to play, no matter how many points I score, those things are a temporary thing," Ivey said. "Jesus is eternal. ... He can free you from all sins."
Ivey soon took his homilies to social media, drawing Chicago's front office's rancor after releasing an anti-LGBTQ tirade on Instagram Live.
Why did Bulls release Jaden Ivey?
Charania reported that Ivey's release was the direct result of anti-LGBTQ comments he made on social media while discussing religion and other topics.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Joe Crowley previously reported that Chicago was working on a "exit" strategy from Ivey after videos of Ivey's comments swept across social media.
Jaden Ivey injury history
Ivey has dealt with recurring lower-body trouble over the years. He was one of basketball's most explosive guards when he entered the league and was on pace for a career-best season before suffering a broken left fibula in a Jan. 2025 matchup against the Magic.
Ivey underwent season-ending surgery to repair the fracture. He returned to the court in the subsequent preseason but was sidelined again after suffering an injury to his right knee. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to relieve his discomfort, missing Detroit's first 15 games of the season.
Ivey's explosiveness appeared to diminish following his injury. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said as much after Chicago ruled Ivey out for at least two weeks with soreness in his left knee.
"Certainly, when he came here and, you know, he started getting more minutes -- in the first few games his minutes were in the 30s -- you could just see he wasn't like stopping, starting," Donovan said, per ESPN. "He didn't have that explosiveness that you saw when you watched him play."
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