NBA news: Ex-Bulls player calls reason for his release a ‘lie’
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Former Chicago Bulls player Jaden Ivey argued that the NBA’s behavior against Pride Month and anti-LGBTQ beliefs did not harm the team.
The Bulls waived Ivey after he posted a post on social media calling the NBA’s Pride Month “unfair.” Chicago said Ivey engaged in behavior that was detrimental to the team.
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Jaden Ivey #31 of the Chicago Bulls warms up before their game against the Denver Nuggets at the United Center on February 7, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Jayden Mack/Getty Images)
“My behavior did not harm the team,” he said. “PinPoint Podcast.” “That’s a lie. I was a good teammate to those around me. I was a good teammate on the field. I made the right plays. I did exactly what the coach asked me to do on a daily basis. I was ready to do whatever it took, whatever I had to do. So my actions were not hurting the team.”
Ivey said he was cut simply because he preached “the word of God.”
“It is absolutely because I speak the truth of God’s word and preach the Gospel,” he continued. “So it was detrimental to the team. I witnessed the truth and things like that for a lot of people on my team.
“Everyone has their own faith. Everybody believes in something. If anyone can talk about whatever it is and curse and talk about injustice, then I can speak the truth, and that’s because my God tells the lost, the ones who don’t know Jesus, the unregenerate to speak the truth.”
NBA PLAYER JADEN IVEY CONTINUES RANT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER WAIVER OVER COMMENTS CRITICISM OF PRIDE MONTH
Chicago Bulls’ Jaden Ivey during a game against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on February 9, 2026 in New York City. (Evan Bernstein/Getty Images)
Ivey also said on the podcast that she repeatedly tried to die by suicide.
“I’m not ashamed to say it. I’m not ashamed to say it because God was merciful to keep me here,” he said. “I almost committed suicide. I had Oxy pills in my hand and my wife was telling me, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do this. Don’t fall like that.’ And God was condemning me. And I didn’t know the truth. I didn’t do it by the grace of God. He kept me here.”
Ivey pushed back against the narrative that she was “crazy.”
“It’s really sad,” he said. “If you ask someone who goes to clubs, ‘Are you crazy?’ They can’t say. Asking someone who smokes marijuana: ‘Are you crazy?’ They don’t look. But to be a truth-proclaiming, Bible-preaching Christian, I’m looked at as crazy and I’m mentally ill and I’m a psychopath and I need help and I’m crazy because I love God.
Chicago Bulls’ Jaden Ivey reacts during the game against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on February 9, 2026 in New York City. (Evan Bernstein/Getty Images)
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“But I love God. I love my family, my children. I love them and I will give my life for them and pour it out for them and I will do the will of God in the name of Jesus and I will do his will so that he may be glorified. Not my will but his will be done.”
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