The NBA’s Jaden Ivey was waived by the Chicago Bulls on Monday for “conduct detrimental to the team” — shorthand for politically incorrect comments he’s made ranging from criticism of “Pride Month” to his bold, outspoken and sometimes unconventional sharing of his Christian faith.
Initially drafted by the Detroit Pistons with the number five pick in the first round in 2022, Ivey credits his conversion to Christianity with helping him overcome a strong sexual addiction and otherwise reckless life.
“Before I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, the NBA was everything to me,” Ivey acknowledged. “I didn’t know God. I didn’t know Jesus when I came to the NBA. I was a fornicator, I was a pornography addict and I used to get drunk. That’s all I knew. And after a win, and after all those points, I felt good… I felt like I had everything set out for me.”
But Ivey found those highs to be temporary and artificial. After hitting a game-winning shot one night, he decided there had to be a better way. Comparing his life before turning his addictions over to Jesus, Ivey said:
“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.”
In recent weeks, the 6-foot-three-inch guard has released via livestream on Instagram a series of commentaries expressing his frustration with the NBA culture. In a message last week, Ivey declared:
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.” They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it on the streets. Unrighteousness. So, how is it that one can’t speak righteousness? Who are they to say that this man is crazy?”
After the Bulls cut ties on Monday, Ivey responded to the decision on social media.
“They’re liars, bro. This is lying,” Ivey said. “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. They say I’m crazy, right? I’m psycho.”
Professional sports teams regularly make decisions regarding personnel, a calculus that Bulls head coach Billy Donovan alluded to when asked about Chicago’s decision to cut ties with Ivey.
“There’s a certain level of expectations and standards that are here,” Donovan said. “Everybody comes with their own personal experiences, right? But we have to all be professional, there has to be a high level of respect for one another, and we’ve got to help each other and be accountable to those standards.”
Ivey’s outspoken and unconventional methods and means of evangelism have included him calling out current and former players, including Steph Curry, LeBron James and Michael Jordan. “All them rings LeBron got, all them rings Michael Jordan got, all them people in the Hall of Fame who don’t know Jesus Christ. It’s not gonna matter on Judgment Day if you don’t know Jesus and your name is not written in the book of life.”
Jaden Ivey also took issue with the Bulls’ vagueness and lack of cited specifics surrounding his release, though when it comes to matters of hiring and firing, it’s not uncommon for those details to be left unsaid out of fear of instigating a lawsuit. Ivey, though, doesn’t have that same filter or concern.
“Jesus is not going to say on Judgment Day, ‘How many points did you score today?’ … He’s gonna say, ‘What did you do for My kingdom?’”
Given the NBA’s long fuse for other types of disruptive and detrimental player behavior ranging from domestic abuse to kneeling for the Star-Spangled Banner, Jaden Ivey’s separation from the league is understandably raising eyebrows and generating charges of ideological hypocrisy and religious bias. The now former NBA player appears unphased and even somewhat energized by the controversy.
“How is it when the gospel is preached that people hate it? That people don’t want to hear it?” he recently asked. “Jesus gives you power over the devil … please turn to Jesus Christ… it’s not His will that these players perish in the NBA.”
