Right or Wrong, Jaden Ivey Wasn't Good Enough To Challenge The NBA's Pride
The Chicago Bulls would not have cut Ivey if he had ranted against Donald Trump or posted "No Kings."
Right or wrong, Jaden Ivey isn’t a good enough player to push a message that the NBA doesn’t support.
Read that again.
The Chicago Bulls would not have cut him if he had ranted against Donald Trump’s supposed dictatorial aspirations, or if he had posted "No Kings." They also wouldn’t have cut him for opposing Pride Month on religious grounds if he were a star player.
Ivey was averaging just 8.5 points per game this season. That’s not enough production to challenge the league’s messaging and become a distraction, as the team viewed him.
For background, the Bulls released the 24-year-old guard on Monday after posting a video calling the NBA "unrighteous" for celebrating Pride Month and citing his Christian faith.
"They’re liars, bro. This is lying," Ivey said during an Instagram Live after his release. "They’re lying saying my conduct is detrimental to the team. That’s a lie. Ask any one of them coaches in there, ‘Was I a good teammate?’ All I’m preaching about is Jesus Christ and they waived me. They say I’m crazy, right? I’m psycho."
This is not to say Ivey is entirely wrong. The NBA promotes Pride Month for the same reason much of corporate America does every June. It’s good public relations. However, sexuality is not something employers or leagues should require employees to celebrate.
Moreover, the NBA and its teams' commitment to the LGBT community is disingenuous. Anthony Edwards used homophobic slurs in a 2022 video and the NBA is actively trying to position him as the face of the league. Kevin Durant used homophobic and racial slurs in a public exchange with Michael Rapaport and was fined just $50,000.
In professional sports, consequences are not applied evenly. They never have been. The one clear exception to this rule is Kyrie Irving, whom the Brooklyn Nets suspended in 2022 for eight games after he shared a link to a film containing antisemitic material. In that case, the response was amplified by outside pressure, including Nike suspending its relationship with Irving.
In general, production dictates tolerance.
jaden-ivey via OutKick
Colin Kaepernick’s exit from the NFL is often framed purely as a response to his national anthem protests. However, his level of play also mattered. The 49ers had already benched him for Blaine Gabbert before the protests began. Kaepernick wasn't performing well enough to cost the NFL popularity, as polls found his actions did.
Last year, Ravens kicker Justin Tucker faced a series of unproven sexual harassment allegations. The Ravens released him afterward, likely ending his career. At 36 and coming off a down season, the rest of the league decided he wasn’t worth the potential distraction, regardless of guilt.
Contrast that with Deshaun Watson, who faced more serious allegations and still received a fully guaranteed contract shortly after. The difference was age and position. Watson was a 26-year-old viewed, albeit erroneously, as a franchise quarterback.
We don’t say this to defend professional sports leagues. These standards create an environment in which players are uniquely vulnerable to unproven allegations. Consider former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer. Sexual assault allegations derailed his career, even as later developments raised questions about the claims, costing him prime years he can never recover.
This is, nonetheless, the reality for professional athletes.
It’s also understandable why other athletes viewed Ivey's release as an attack on Christianity. As the most widely practiced religion in the United States, Christianity often becomes part of broader cultural and political conflicts, including in spaces where the NBA has aligned itself on social issues.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson posted, quoting Matthew 5:10.
"Jesus Christ is King," added Packers tight end Tucker Kraft.
No league in America values the hierarchy of victimhood more than the NBA, in which the gay community sits far higher than Christians.
Still, a role player with limited production and prior off-court concerns, including publicly discussing "abusing" his wife, had little margin for controversy.
If a team believes Ivey can contribute on the court next season, his career will continue. If not, his comments about Pride Month could end his career.