Jaden Ivey called the Bulls “liars” after the team waived him on Monday for “conduct detrimental to the team” following an Instagram livestream where he criticized the NBA’s support of Pride Month.
Ivey has hosted several livestreams recently where he has gone on lengthy tangents about religion and has made inflammatory remarks, including calling Catholicism a “false religion.”
He took to the familiar platform on Monday night to address the Bulls’ decision, along with a winding diatribe about religion and calling out other NBA players.
“They’re liars, bro. This is lying,” Ivey said during the Instagram Live, which appeared to be taking place while he was boarding a flight. “They’re lying saying my conduct is detrimental to the team. That’s a lie. Ask any one of them coaches in there, ‘Was I a good teammate?’ All I’m preaching about is Jesus Christ and they waived me. They say I’m crazy, right? I’m psycho.”
He added that he was “doing what was required of my job” by being in the gym and rehabbing when the Bulls decided to waive him.
Ivey had his season shut down last Thursday while he deals with left knee pain.
Ivey also questioned why the Bulls didn’t outright say that the organization did not agree with his stance on LGBTQ issues, while continuing to insist that he had been a good teammate.
The former Bulls guard later appeared to question Steph Curry’s Christianity.
“He don’t know Jesus and I pray he comes to the truth,” Ivey said. “All that stuff isn’t going to matter on Judgement Day. All them rings he got. All them rings LeBron [James] got. All them rings Michael Jordan got.”
Word of Ivey’s release broke on Monday afternoon, hours after the latest livestream, his third in roughly a week.
Ivey’s behavior had started to raise some concerns among basketball fans.
Asked about the decision to waive Ivey, Bulls head coach Bill Donovan said that “there’s a certain level of standards and expectations that are here.”
“I mean, we have people from all different walks of life working in the building and players from all different walks of life, right?” he said. “So, the first thing is, everybody comes with their own personal experiences. But one is, we’ve got to all be professional. I think there’s got to be a high level of respect for one another, and we got to help each other and then be accountable to those standards.”