The NBA is taking heat for alleged Christian discrimination after one team announced it waived a player for supposed “detrimental” conduct after speaking out against “Pride Month.”
Before the All-Star break, the Chicago Bulls acquired guard Jaden Ivey from the Detroit Pistons, featuring him in a handful of games. After being sidelined for weeks and reportedly shut down for the season over a problem with his knee, a waiver over remarks about the “unrighteousness” celebrated by the league found the 24-year-old athlete doubling down against the league’s alleged discrimination.
“They said my conduct is detrimental to the team, right? Why didn’t they just say we don’t agree with his stance on LGBTQ? Why didn’t they say that? How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players?” asked Ivey in a video posted to social media. “I did nothing but practice with them, play with them, pass the ball to them, good teammate to them, said ‘good job, good shot,’ … I said these things to my teammates, was never detrimental to them. So why is it that the NBA and the Chicago Bulls say that I’m detrimental to the team? How?”
“Cause I believe in the truth? Because I know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?” the basketball player challenged. “How is my conduct detrimental to the team because of what I believe? Because of what the truth is?”
Jaden Ivey was kicked off the Chicago Bulls today after being labeled “detrimental to the team” due to his Christian views on LGBTQ pride nights.
“Detrimental to the team? Because I believe in the truth? Because I know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?”
Totally… pic.twitter.com/HqP7u6EShf
— CatholicVote (@CatholicVote) March 31, 2026
The video from Ivey came out not long after the Bulls released a brief statement on the matter: “The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has waived guard Jaden Ivey due to conduct detrimental to the team.”
That decision came hours after a previous video from the player on social media included him calling out the league at the beginning of Holy Week: “They proclaim Pride Month in the NBA. They proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say … come join us for Pride, for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness. They proclaim it.”
“They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it on the streets. Unrighteousness. So, how is it that one can’t speak righteousness? … How are they to say that … this man is crazy?” added Ivey.
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 30, 2026
BREAKING: The Chicago Bulls have released Jaden Ivey from their team after he posted a video criticizing the NBA’s LGBTQ Pride Month celebrations pic.twitter.com/Fqgp5zyCBf
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 30, 2026
As it happened, before the guard came to Chicago from Detroit, a January post from the Bulls celebrating “Pride Night” claimed, “We support the LGBTQIA+ community, and everyone’s right to be who they are (emphasis added).”
It’s Pride Night at the UC!
We support the LGBTQIA+ community and everyone’s right to be who they are 🫶@BMO_US | #SeeRed pic.twitter.com/7ORaL4Qo9g
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) January 10, 2026
Adding further context to the move, suggesting the Bulls’ decision was about more than just one video, ESPN reported, “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.”
Worth noting, the sidelined NBA player’s mother, Niele Ivey, is the coach for the University of Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team. The same school has recently kindled concerns over signs it may be abandoning its Catholic mission, including attempting to hire an ardent supporter of abortion as director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and briefly entertaining removing a requirement that staff understand and accept “the Catholic mission of the university.”
Meanwhile, reactions slammed the team and the league for “anti-Christian bigotry” while highlighting the sort of behavior of players that are historically permitted to continue, like accusations of rape, battery, drug use, and more.
Your anti-Christian bigotry is noted.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 31, 2026
NBA teams have kept players on their rosters who have beat a woman, been arrested over drugs or DUI, been accused of rape and who’ve been in public sexual deviancy dramas. But they drew the line today and waived Jaden Ivey for voicing a Christian view opposing LGBTQ Pride events.
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) March 31, 2026
The Chicago Bulls have open admitted they waived him because of his ‘conduct’
So as an NBA players you can sleep with hookers, commit betting fraud, smoke pot.
But express minor annoyance about the rainbow mafia and you waived!
I hope he sues them into oblivion
— Joshua Sutcliffe (@jj_sutcliffe) March 31, 2026
God bless you .@JadensIV. Start filing religious freedom & free speech lawsuits now. .@AAGDhillon can probably help. 🙏✝️🇺🇸
— evilpa (@Evilpa) March 31, 2026
Jaden chose God on Holy Week. I stand with Jaden Ivey ✝️📿🙏
— Catholic HODL ✝️🇺🇸🇻🇦⚡️ (@PaxAeterna) March 30, 2026
You can get caught with guns, drugs, and beating your spouse and your NBA team will still find a way to keep you on the roster.
If act like a clear minded Christian, speaking biblical truth, they will cut you. The NBA is a terrible product and demonic
— Adam B. Coleman, Proud Father & Imperfect Man (@wrong_speak) March 30, 2026
Fixed it for you. pic.twitter.com/ecS4MALGbu
— AG 🔥 (@Yolo304741) March 31, 2026
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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