{"id":694125,"date":"2026-04-02T15:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694125\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:44:19","slug":"ditching-jaden-ivey-chicago-bulls-expose-nbas-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/694125\/","title":{"rendered":"Ditching Jaden Ivey, Chicago Bulls expose NBA’s hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the\u00a0Chicago Bulls\u00a0waived guard\u00a0Jaden Ivey\u00a0on Monday for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team<\/a>,\u201d team management succeeded in exposing their\u00a0own detrimental conduct toward free speech.<\/p>\n

Ivey\u2019s shocking act was not an assault on someone or a bet on a game.<\/p>\n

He did not call for violence.<\/p>\n

Ivey expressed his religious beliefs by criticizing the NBA\u2019s Pride Month celebrations.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that private companies have the right to control employees\u2019 on-the-job speech, including barring demonstrations such as kneeling during the national anthem.<\/p>\n

But the Ivey controversy exposes the hypocrisy of sports associations and teams as they pursue both corporate virtue-signaling and athlete speech restrictions.<\/p>\n

Companies in various fields assert the right to condition contracts on the possibility of termination due to public behavior or comments deemed detrimental to the company.<\/p>\n

Ivey\u2019s release, based on words spoken off the basketball court, appears to be such a case.<\/p>\n

Note, however, the lack of consistency.<\/p>\n

Just as actors like Rachel Zegler have tanked their own movies<\/a> to advance their progressive political viewpoints, athletes have routinely espoused controversial views<\/a> on\u00a0racial divisions or law enforcement\u00a0without losing their contracts.<\/p>\n

Recently, NBA\u00a0teams supported athletes espousing anti-ICE sentiments.<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s not the advocacy, but the viewpoint that these companies focus on.<\/p>\n

It is content-based regulation of speech.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the NFL and NBA require players to wear and espouse views that some of them \u2014 like some of their fellow Americans \u2014 oppose.<\/p>\n

Ivey was objecting that Pride Month, in his view, means the NBA is espousing \u201cunrighteous\u201d lifestyles.<\/p>\n

He was not attacking the Bulls or the game; he was asserting that he does not support the virtues or values being endorsed by the company.<\/p>\n

Many of us were offended by some of Ivey\u2019s other social media postings that referred to Catholicism<\/a> as a \u201cfalse religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also drew the ire of many by telling a fan, \u201cGod does not hear your prayer if you are a sinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it appears that his criticism of the LGBTQ community and Pride Month is what ended his NBA contract.<\/p>\n

Ivey objected to the advocacy required by the league, saying, \u201cThey proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, \u2018Come join us for Pride Month,\u2019 to celebrate unrighteousness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem of \u201ctalent\u201d becoming notorious has long been a focus of sports and entertainment contracts.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Hateful or divisive public comments can impact a brand or corporate image: For example, a team does not have to continue an association with a racist spewing hateful remarks about fans.<\/p>\n

Yet the Ivey controversy should force a discussion of the countervailing responsibilities of the teams and the NBA.<\/p>\n

Some of us have previously criticized the rampant racial virtue-signaling<\/a> of the NFL, with its giant statements in the end zones and on players\u2019 helmets.<\/p>\n

Many fans would like these teams to stop lecturing them and simply play sports.<\/p>\n

We do not need morality or civics lessons from the likes of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.<\/p>\n

However, if the NFL and NBA are going to get into the business of shaping fans\u2019 values, they may need to accept greater leeway for athletes who hold opposing values.<\/p>\n

Instead, they\u2019re expecting athletes like Ivey to effectively endorse league-approved values while barring them from expressing dissenting views.<\/p>\n

This is not the first such controversy.<\/p>\n

Years ago, former coach Tony Dungy was the subject of\u00a0a cancel campaign\u00a0because he expressed his faith at a pro-life rally.<\/p>\n

Former Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio was\u00a0punished for expressing a dissenting view\u00a0<\/a>of what happened on Jan. 6 and what he saw as excessive sentences handed down to its participants.<\/p>\n

Likewise, Chicago Cubs player Matt Shaw was recently the\u00a0target of a campaign<\/a>\u00a0to trade him after he attended the funeral of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n

Sports organizations, like other businesses, have every right to bar protests and political statements at games.<\/p>\n

They should, however, apply the same standard to themselves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to get virtue signaling and social statements out of sports.<\/p>\n

Teams need to stop picking sides on social and political issues while blocking opposing views from their athletes.<\/p>\n

Once they\u2019re out of the business of shaping public values and views, teams will be in a better position to demand that athletes avoid controversial public statements that alienate fans or harm a brand.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, teams could simply bar such player commentary on the court or on the field \u2014 and allow the athletes the same freedom of expression outside the game that the teams themselves enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

None of this means that Jaden Ivey\u2019s specific statements<\/a> are right or admirable.<\/p>\n

It only means that if the Bulls want him to just play basketball, they should do the same.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of \u201cRage and the Republic<\/a>: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the\u00a0Chicago Bulls\u00a0waived guard\u00a0Jaden Ivey\u00a0on Monday for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team,\u201d team management succeeded in exposing their\u00a0own…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[7,920,919,329,3824,1018,67822,6,2294,87472,87473,87474,87475],"class_list":{"0":"post-694125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bulls","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bulls","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-bulls","12":"tag-chicagobulls","13":"tag-jaden-ivey","14":"tag-lgbtqia","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-opinion","17":"tag-political-correctness","18":"tag-pride-week","19":"tag-religious-freedom","20":"tag-speech"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116335887531586070","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}