Jaden Ivey Dragged by Stephen A. Smith After Bulls Axe Him Over Bizarre Homophobic Rant
Stephen A. Smith believes Jaden Ivey may have seriously damaged his NBA future after the former Chicago Bulls guard went on a lengthy Instagram Live rant that included anti-LGBTQ+ comments.
Speaking on The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith said Ivey put himself in a difficult position by speaking publicly for more than 40 minutes.
“The first order of business is minding your own,” Smith said. “The second order of business is protecting your own and not doing stuff that’s going to get in your own way, just because you wanted to express yourself on IG.” Smith continued, “You got a future to think about, and you just put it in jeopardy because you wanted to express yourself for 42 minutes on IG live. Where’s that going to get you? Is that worth your career?”
The comments came one day after the Chicago Bulls waived Ivey, citing “conduct detrimental to the team.”
During his livestream, Ivey criticized the NBA’s support of Pride Month.
“The world proclaims LGBTQ, right? They proclaim Pride Month and the NBA does too,” he said. “They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.’”
After being released, Ivey defended himself in another livestream.
“They said your conduct has been detrimental to the team,” he said. “I haven’t even been with the team because I’ve been rehabbing.”
Jaden Ivey questions NBA hypocrisy, saying Anthony Edwards’ 2023 use of “queer” as a slur resulted only in a fine because he was the best player on the Minnesota Timberwolves, while he was released by the Chicago Bulls for speaking the truth
“How is it that he said something… pic.twitter.com/hYPvHBAbnE
— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) April 1, 2026
Ivey also spoke about his Christian faith and suggested several NBA stars were not truly religious, naming Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Michael Jordan. “All them rings he got, all them rings LeBron got, all them rings Michael Jordan got, all them people in the Hall of Fame who don’t know Jesus Christ,” Ivey said. “It’s not gonna matter.”