NBA Player Cut After Voicing Biblical Views on Marriage

Four games. That’s all Jaden Ivey got with the Chicago Bulls before the organization showed him the door.

The 24-year-old guard, acquired from the Detroit Pistons in a February trade, was waived Monday evening after posting a video to Instagram in which he spoke out against LGBTQ Pride Month and the NBA’s support of it, framing his remarks in explicitly religious terms.

“The world can proclaim LGBTQ, they proclaim Pride Month, and the NBA, they proclaim it,” Ivey said. “God did not make a man to be with a man. God did not make a girl to be with a girl. God made a man for the purpose of procreation to have another child.”

The Bulls moved swiftly and by 6 p.m. that same day, the team had announced his release. “The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has waived guard Jaden Ivey due to conduct detrimental to the team,” the organization stated in an official statement.

Speaking to reporters ahead of Monday’s game, head coach Billy Donovan stopped short of addressing Ivey’s comments directly but made the team’s expectations clear.

“We’ve got people from all different backgrounds, you know, inside the organization,” Donovan said. “We’re all going to basically take care of each other. We’re going to accept each other. And I think we’re going to be hardworking, we’re going to be accountable, and we’re going to be respectful, and we’re going to be professional.”

He added, “I think, organizationally, there’s certain standards I think we want to have as an organization and try to live up to those each and every day.”

Reacting to the situation, Reverend Franklin Graham posted on X: “I appreciate that Jaden Ivey isn’t afraid to stand up for his biblical beliefs,” he stated. “On Monday, Jaden called out the NBA and the Chicago Bulls for proclaiming Pride Month to “celebrate unrighteousness.” The Bulls then waived Jaden for what they called conduct detrimental to the team.”

“I hope other followers of Christ will choose to stand with the Word of God and not the world—no matter the cost. God has something bigger and better in store Jaden!” he said.

Ivey wasn’t finished, however, and later that night, he returned to social media to challenge the Bulls’ official explanation, all whilst doubling down on his convictions.

“Why didn’t they just say, ‘We don’t agree with his stance on LGBTQ?’ he asked. “How? Because I believe in the truth, because I know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?”

He went further, casting the situation in spiritual rather than mere professional terms: “This is not about me. This is about the kingdom of God. This is about the truth, the truth of the Bible, because I spoke what the truth is. I called these things out because that’s what it is. The word of God will be preached to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The waiver designation means another NBA team has 48 hours to claim Ivey’s contract. If no team steps in, Chicago will remain on the hook for the remaining balance of his four-year rookie deal, a contract valued at nearly $33 million, and Ivey will enter free agency.

Whether a team picks him up remains to be seen. What’s clear is that Ivey has no intention of walking back what he said. In his own words: “This is about the kingdom of God.”

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