On March 30, 2026 the Chicago Bulls waived Jaden Ivey for speaking Biblical truth about homosexuality in light of the NBA promoting Pride Month. For now, I will begin this post by sharing a host of links:
- From Not The Bee (conservative, sometimes Christian): https://notthebee.com/article/chicago-bulls-accused-of-releasing-player-because-he-didnt-like-the-gay-stuff-they-were-doing
- From Sporting News (secular): Sporting News - NFL | NBA | MLB | NCAA | Boxing | Soccer | NASCAR
- From ESPN (secular): https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48350464/sources-bulls-waive-jaden-ivey-anti-gay-comments
- From MSN (secular): What did Jaden Ivey say? Explaining sudden release from Bulls after NBA Pride Month rant
- From By The Book Ministries on YouTube (Christian): https://youtu.be/kyEKXiarlns
That’s it for now - Ivey is being persecuted. A football player on the New England Patriots posted this:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:10 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.5.10.NKJV
He didn’t post this next verse but I’m adding it:
““Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.”
Matthew 5:11 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.5.11.NKJV
I am praying for Jaden Ivey. Like Tim Tebow before him, I know God has a great platform for him, due to his faithfulness. I first was introduced to him a couple years back when he was a member of the Detroit Pistons, and in a post-game interview he proclaimed Jesus’s return and the urgent need for folks to repent. Then, a couple months ago when he was traded to the Chicago Bulls, I was excited (I’m a Bulls fan dating back to the Michael Jordan days) because now the Bulls’ locker room was really going to get to hear about Jesus.
Evidently, they didn’t want to hear it. He was released for “conduct detrimental to the team,” which was codespeak for, they didn’t want to hear him preaching about Jesus and disagreeing with platforms that the team (and the league) stood for.
Honestly, I’m devastated. This is a watershed moment where I have to choose between one or the other, and the choice is clear: Jesus Christ over the Chicago Bulls, and Jesus Christ over the National Basketball Association (NBA). Yes and Amen. But this also means I cannot ignore what the Bulls are, or what the NBA is, and that is anti-God, anti-Jesus, anti-Bible, and anti-Christianity. I cannot in good faith support these things.
The Chicago Bulls were the first sports team I ever rooted for, and it was easy because I came up during the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen dynasty years. For someone who was already having a rough life, the Bulls were the one place where I felt I could win in life, even it was vicariously through someone else. And even though the years have passed, and the Bulls have never been great since (the closest they got was the semifinals in 2011 at the peak of the Derrick Rose era), and more significantly, the quality of the NBA product has gotten worse (player empowerment, load management, the declining quality of the All-Star game, need I go on?), I still religiously followed the sport, because of Michael Jordan. And Scottie Pippen. And contemporaries like Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and so on, down the line to the likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, et al. who are starring today. But if my favorite sport, and more significantly, my city’s team of all teams, are going to put God to the test, I cannot support it. The truth is, in the eyes of eternity, the Chicago Bulls will be more known for firing Jaden Ivey for publicly expressing Christian Biblical truths, than for the success of the Jordan-Pippen era. Anyone who puts God to the test will be judged.
I believe that the Chicago Cubs were doubly cursed in the twentieth century, as for why they were unable to win a World Series championship in 108 years (and a pennant for 71 years). They threw a World Series against the Boston Red Sox in 1918 and got away with it on both fronts (they “lost” the series and didn’t get caught, unlike the Chicago White Sox the following year who tried to do the same thing), and then ticked off a famous fan by denying him and his goat entry to a World Series game in 1945, the latter of which led to no more pennants while the former led to no more championships. And that was just by mere sinning (gambling; ticking off the wrong person who probably had every Constitutional right to attend, including the fact that he had a ticket). Now imagine setting yourself up against God. I fear that that’s what the Bulls have done.
I believe that the city of Chicago unfortunately is cursed (as are all major cities in the US right now), and not just limited to sports. The Bears are talking of moving their stadium to Indiana, just over the border. The White Sox evidently need to finance a new stadium of their own, and one of Chicago’s other teams, the Fire, already have closed on a payment to develop a new stadium on land that the Sox had their eye on. The Cubs and Blackhawks seem to be okay for now. And now the Bulls just cursed themselves, again.*
*I say “again” because the way that the Jordan/Pippen dynasty ended was without competitive integrity. Management decided to tear down the team without giving them a chance to lose their crown first, which is something that’s still stuck in Jordan’s craw. Additionally, it was well-known even during the championship years that management underpaid their players and otherwise treated them poorly. It’s why, in the years after, when they tried to attract free agents (and even when they had cash), no one wanted to come. I still remember the summer of 2000: the Bulls wined and dined free agents such as Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, and Eddie Jones, among others. None of the major ones signed. (Only role players. The team was still terrible the following several seasons.) Word had gotten around: “don’t go to the Bulls; they will treat you terribly.” Ten years later, when guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, et al., were free agents, the Bulls pulled out all the stops, wined and dined all those they wanted, and... they came away only with Carlos Boozer, a B-list star who had, in negotiating his previous contract, pinky-swore with the owner of his team at the time that he would re-sign the following summer if he allowed him to be a free agent first. The owner did so in good faith, and then Boozer up and signed with a different team without giving the owner of the first team a shot. Aside from DeMar DeRozan in more recent years, I cannot truly say the Bulls were able to acquire a truly good player, or field that great of a team. Oh yeah, and then there’s a very specific curse when it comes to their point guards, specifically with their left knees. In 2002 they drafted a guy who likely could’ve been the face of the franchise post-dynasty, in Jay Williams. He had a decent rookie season, with signs of getting even better. He could have been a superstar. He completely destroyed his left knee and pelvis in a motorcycle accident (which was prohibited in his contract) just one year later, and never made it back to playing in the NBA. Their next superstar point guard was Derrick Rose. ...yeah. Tore the ACL in his left knee. Was never the same again. Then Lonzo Ball, who wasn’t a superstar, but his lengthy absence led to the team, which was first in the Eastern Conference at the time of his left-knee injury, completely collapsing. So yeah, I’d say that, prior to Jaden Ivey’s firing, the Bulls were doubly cursed. Now, by putting themselves square in the crosshairs of the God of the Bible (along with the rest of the league), they’re triply cursed. (Then again, now so is the NBA.)
Obviously, a lot to grieve. But it’s important to let this go. Earth -- and everything of it -- is temporal.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. Matthew 24:35, NKJV