SAN ANTONIO — The Bulls wanted to see more from guard Jaden Ivey than the four games he played for them before his knee issues became a concern and he was shut down.
As of Monday, however, they didn’t have to see anything from him any longer.
The Bulls announced they had waived Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team after he went on social media and ranted about the LGBTQ movement, saying: ‘‘The world proclaims LGBTQ, right? 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.’ ’’
The Bulls wasted no time once they saw the posts, reaching out to the NBA about the proper process for Ivey’s exit.
‘‘There’s a certain level of expectations and standards that are here,’’ coach Billy Donovan said after the Bulls made their decision official. ‘‘We have people from all walks of life working in the building and players from all different walks of life, so the first thing is [that] 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.
‘‘From ownership, Jerry and Michael [Reinsdorf], down to the front office, [executive vice president] Arturas [Karnisovas] and [general manager] Marc [Eversley], me as a coach and even to the players, there’s a certain standard we want to all live by. We’re all responsible to that standard.’’
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 30, 2026
A source in the organization said it wasn’t just Ivey’s opinions on the LGBTQ issue but an accumulation of posts and comments that started last month.
The Bulls acquired Ivey from the Pistons, who drafted him No. 5 overall in 2022, at the trade deadline in the deal for Kevin Huerter. He showed some immediate red flags when he held an impromptu postgame sermon in February about the ‘‘old Jaden Ivey’’ being dead, especially now that ‘‘Christ was in his life.’’
In the last few weeks, Ivey started taking to his social-media account to preach to people about his beliefs and condemn those he thought weren’t ‘‘saved.’’ Monday proved to be the final straw, with the Bulls being of the opinion that Ivey’s behavior was spiraling.
Donovan said Ivey was good about showing up for the rehab program to strengthen his knee, so there were no issues on that front. He then was asked about Ivey’s mental health and responded: ‘‘I’m not a doctor, but I would say mental health is a real issue. I’m not saying there are mental-health issues [with Ivey], but I do know from my standpoint as a coach there is a lot these guys have [to deal with].’’
There is, however, a basketball element to this. Ivey will be a restricted free agent after the season, and the Bulls initially had plans to invest in him.
There were indications out of Detroit that Ivey not only was very religious but also a bit of a ‘‘preacher’’ in the locker room, so why didn’t Karnisovas and the Bulls do their homework on him before the deal?
Donovan only could answer so much.
‘‘I think there was some hope that he would be a guy that would be here [for the] long term, quite honestly,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘That was the intention of doing the deal that got done. That was the impression that I got from the front office, that this is what we wanted to do.
‘‘Obviously, it didn’t work out that way. Now we have to pivot and move to some-
thing else.’’
