The Chicago Bulls waived guard Jaden Ivey on Monday, citing conduct detrimental to the team, after the 24-year-old posted a series of anti-LGBTQ comments and religious remarks on his Instagram account. The move ends a turbulent and brief tenure in Chicago for the former No. 5 overall pick, who had been acquired from the Detroit Pistons less than two months earlier. Among his posts, Ivey criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month, calling it “unrighteousness,” according to ESPN.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan addressed the situation prior to the team’s game against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. He said the organization has certain standards it tries to live up to every day and that Ivey’s comments do not reflect the values of the franchise, as NBC New York reported. The statement was measured but unequivocal — the Bulls wanted distance from Ivey’s remarks immediately.
The controversy extended beyond Ivey’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. In one of his Instagram videos, he called Catholicism a false religion and said it was not the true Doctrine of Christ, according to Fox News. That remark carried an additional layer of awkwardness: Ivey’s mother, Niele Ivey, serves as the head women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame, a Catholic university.
A source within the Bulls organization told the Chicago Sun-Times that the waiver was not solely about his LGBTQ comments. Instead, it was the result of an accumulation of posts and comments that had started the previous month. In his Instagram rants, Ivey also specifically cited rapper 50 Cent as an example of wicked music lyrics about drugs and sex, according to CBS Sports.
Ivey did not go quietly. Shortly after being waived, he went live on Instagram from an airplane, disputing the Bulls’ characterization of his release. According to The Athletic’s Joel Lorenzi, as Yahoo Sports reported, Ivey called the conduct detrimental label a lie, saying all he was preaching about was Jesus Christ. During the same session, he declared that the championship rings earned by LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Stephen Curry would not matter on judgment day. A flight attendant eventually asked Ivey to end the broadcast because the plane was ready to depart and his cellphone could interfere with communication systems, as WTTW reported.
Despite the waiver, Ivey will still receive his full $10.1 million salary for the 2025-26 NBA season, according to The Athletic. He had been playing on an expiring contract after failing to reach an extension agreement with Detroit the previous summer.
Ivey’s path to Chicago was itself a complicated one. The Bulls acquired him from the Pistons on February 3, 2026, in a three-team trade that also involved the Minnesota Timberwolves. The deal sent Kevin Huerter and center Dario Šarić along with a future first-round pick swap to Detroit while providing salary-cap relief to Minnesota. Mike Conley was also acquired by the Bulls in the same transaction, though Chicago subsequently bought out Conley’s contract.
However, Ivey barely saw the court in a Bulls uniform. He appeared in just four games for Chicago, averaging 8.5 points across 37 total games during the 2025-26 season. His last appearance came on February 11, 2026, before a sore left knee sidelined him. On approximately March 26, the Bulls announced he would be shut down for the remainder of the season. Days later, they cut him entirely.
Injuries had already derailed what began as a promising career. Drafted out of Purdue University with the fifth overall pick in 2022, Ivey showed real potential in his first two seasons in Detroit, averaging 15.8 points while starting alongside Cade Cunningham in the backcourt. But knee issues limited him to only 30 games with the Pistons during the 2024-25 season, and he missed the first 15 games of the current campaign after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee.
Even before the Instagram controversy, there were signs of friction. On February 19, in a game against the Toronto Raptors, Ivey did not play due to a coach’s decision — described as the first healthy scratch of his career. The moment hinted at a relationship already fraying behind the scenes.
What comes next for Ivey remains uncertain. At 24, he still possesses the talent that once made him a top-five draft pick. But the combination of recurring knee problems and the fallout from his social media posts leaves his NBA future very much in question. No team has publicly expressed interest in signing him.
