Bulls waive guard Jaden Ivey hours after homophobic social media rants

The Chicago Bulls are waiving guard Jaden Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team, the organization announced Monday, March 30.

Since being shut down for the season Thursday, March 26 because of lingering knee issues, Ivey, 24, has gone live on his Instagram on three separate occasions to rant about his religious beliefs and other issues. Several comments he made in reply to fans have since gone viral, including referring to Catholicism as a “false religion” and telling a fan that “God does not hear your prayer if you are a sinner.”

But the final straw for the Bulls appears to have come on Monday morning, when Ivey again took to social media – this time targeting the LGBTQ community, Pride Month and the NBA’s advocacy efforts in a 45-minute-long rant.

“… the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month,’ to celebrate unrighteousness,” Ivey said on his livestream.

Ivey has spoken in the past about dealing with depression.

A former fifth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Bulls acquired Ivey from the Detroit Pistons at the trade deadline on Feb. 3 in exchange for Kevin Huerter. He appeared in four games for Chicago and has been sidelined since Feb. 11 with left patellofemoral pain syndrome, a common and sometimes chronic pain behind or around the kneecap more widely known as runner’s knee.

Ivey averaged career-lows in points (8.5), rebounds (2.5) and assists (1.8) across 37 games played this year and played just 30 games in 2024-25 due to a broken left fibula. He underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in October that forced him to miss the Pistons’ first 15 games of the season.

Ivey, in his fourth NBA season, was set to be a restricted free agent this summer after he and Detroit could not finalize an agreement on a contract extension last offseason.