(The Lion) — An NBA player’s dismissal after speaking out against LGBT Pride Month has ignited a backlash and raised questions among people of faith about whether athletes who hold traditional Christian beliefs are truly welcome in the league.
The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey on Monday for what the team described as “conduct detrimental to the team,” even though – as Ivey later said – he had not been with the team and had been rehabbing a knee injury that sidelined him for the season.
The Bulls’ move came after an Instagram livestream in which Ivey criticized the league’s promotion of Pride Month and its handling of opposing views.
“They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They proclaim it,” Ivey said in the video. “They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride, for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets – unrighteousness. So how is it that one can’t speak righteousness?”
Within hours, Ivey had been waived.
Ivey was in his fourth NBA season and finished second in scoring for the Detroit Pistons last year (17.6 points per game), though an injury limited him to 30 games. He was traded to Chicago this season and appeared in just four games before a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. He averaged 8.2 points. Ivey earned All-Rookie honors in 2022–23 after averaging 16.3 points and was viewed as one of the league’s rising young players.
Ivey also made comments disagreeing with Catholicism – but it was his remarks about Pride Month that appear to have prompted the team’s decision.
On Monday, he pushed back against the idea that his conduct was “detrimental.”
“They said ‘your conduct is detrimental to the team,’” Ivey said in a new video. “I haven’t been with the team. I haven’t been with the team because I’ve been rehabbing. So how’s my conduct detrimental to the team?”
Jaden Ivey responds to the Bulls waiving him for anti-LGBTQ comments:
“They said your conduct has been detrimental to the team… I haven’t even been with the team because I’ve been rehabbing.”
(h/t @MrBuckBuckNBA)pic.twitter.com/E9qNh92xNt
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) March 31, 2026
Ivey has been one of the NBA’s most outspoken Christians throughout his four years in the league. During the 2023–24 season, for instance, he answered hoops-centric questions following a victory but ended the news conference with a faith-centered message, telling reporters, “Jesus is coming back, and we all have to repent for our sins.”
The Bulls’ action has sparked a slew of reaction from athletes and public figures – many of them defending Ivey.
TreVeyon Henderson, a star running back who helped lead the NFL’s New England Patriots to the Super Bowl this year, has posted a series of comments on X/Twitter defending Ivey, including this verse: “‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ Matthew 5:10.”
BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls are waiving Jaden Ivey after he spoke out against the NBA for promoting 'Pride Month' and unrighteousness, according to ESPN.
Ivey recently announced that he was alive in Christ.
"They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They show it to the world. They… pic.twitter.com/1kxiL36ygn
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 30, 2026
Blake Ferguson of the Miami Dolphins also posted in support of Ivey, citing Jesus’ words from John 15, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Azareye’h Thomas, a cornerback for the New York Jets, also weighed in on social media: “The world will try to make sin look normal and righteousness look strange. … Every single person on earth will soon have an appointment before Jesus. So if living for Christ makes us look crazy or ‘weird’, that’s okay because it isn’t strange to Christ. When it’s all said and done, we’ll give an account to an audience of One.”
The Chicago Bulls are waiving guard Jaden Ivey after his recent anti-LGBTQ comments amid several rants on religion and other topics, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/7dbsoUhAvE
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 30, 2026
ESPN reported that Ivey is expected to be a free agent this upcoming offseason, allowing him to sign with any team.
