Jamal CollierMar 30, 2026, 05:49 PM ET
- Jamal Collier is an NBA reporter at ESPN. Collier covers the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and the Midwest region of the NBA, including stories such as Minnesota's iconic jersey swap between Anthony Edwards and Justin Jefferson. He has been at ESPN since Sept. 2021 and previously covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune. You can reach out to Jamal on Twitter @JamalCollier or via email [email protected].
The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team Monday, hours after he posted a lengthy video rant on social media about religion and other topics that included anti-gay sentiments.
Ivey has gone live on his Instagram account more frequently in the past week, posting at least three lengthy videos after he was shut down for the rest of the season by the team because of injury last Thursday. On Monday morning, he called out the NBA for promoting Pride Month, saying it celebrates "unrighteousness."
"The world proclaims LGBTQ, right?" Ivey said during the video stream. "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."
The Bulls acquired Ivey, 24, from the Detroit Pistons before the trade deadline last month. He was drafted with the No. 5 pick in 2022 and featured early by a rebuilding Pistons team before knee issues limited him to only 30 games in 2024-25 and kept him out for the first 15 games this season. Ivey appeared in only four games for the Bulls and last played Feb. 11 before the All-Star break. The team announced last week that he would be shut down for the season because of a sore left knee.
On Feb. 19 against the Raptors, Ivey did not play because of a coach's decision, the first time in his young career he had been a healthy scratch. After the game that night, he noted that he "wasn't the same player as he used to be," referring to his religion while talking to reporters in the locker room.
"I'm not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead," Ivey said. "I'm alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is."
Ivey was outspoken about his religious beliefs in Detroit, but his intensity ratcheted up during his tenure in Chicago, which agitated some team staff members who described Ivey as "preachy" around the locker room, sources told ESPN. His social media rants often lasted nearly an hour and ventured into a variety of topics, including his own bouts of depression, finding religion, "wicked" music lyrics, anti-Catholicism, abortion and asides about his love for apple pie.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan told reporters before Monday night's game against the Spurs in San Antonio that the team hoped Ivey could be a part of its long-term future when it acquired him last month. But because Ivey did not come to an agreement on a contract extension with Detroit last summer, he will be a free agent heading into this offseason.
"There's a certain level of expectations and standards that are here," Donovan told reporters. "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 is the son of Notre Dame women's basketball coach Niele Ivey.
