Former Chicago Bulls Guard Jaden Ivey Spotted Street Preaching
Less than a week after he was cut by the Chicago Bulls, former lottery pick Jaden Ivey was spotted doing a different kind of performance in the city: street preaching.
Video surfaced on social media over the weekend that purportedly showed Ivey, a six-foot-three former guard wearing a black shirt, red sweats, and sneakers, pacing as he shouts into a microphone. Behind him, a man holds a sign that reads, “JESUS DIED FOR YOU! GOD LOVES AND WANTS TO SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS REPENT OF SIN BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OBEY JESUS.”
It’s unclear exactly what Ivey’s street sermon was about, as the clip is short. Ivey says at one point, “Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God,” a verse from Matthew 5:8, a part of the Sermon on the Mount.
Ivey, who was drafted fifth overall out of Purdue by the Detroit Pistons in 2022, was cut by the Bulls on March 30 following a series of rants on social media in which he paired religion with derogatory comments about the NBA’s efforts to engage the LGBTQ community. In one social media rant, Ivey criticized the NBA’s celebration of Pride Month, calling it “unrighteousness.” He'd been publicly quiet since his release.
ESPN reported that Ivey’s outward religiosity had “ratcheted up” since he was traded from Detroit to the Bulls in February, and that it had become an issue for some teammates in the locker room and elsewhere inside the organization.