{"id":1856791,"date":"2026-03-31T14:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1856791"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:15:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:15:02","slug":"jaden-iveys-odd-divorce-from-bulls-is-also-a-rare-early-exit-for-a-top-5-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1856791","title":{"rendered":"Jaden Ivey\u2019s odd divorce from Bulls is also a rare early exit for a top-5 pick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bounce Newslette<\/b>r<\/strong>\u00a0\":basketball:\"<\/span>\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

The NCAA women\u2019s Final Four is set. UConn will face South Carolina, and UCLA will take on Texas on Friday, starting at 7 p.m. ET. All four teams are No. 1 seeds. That hasn\u2019t happened since 2018.<\/p>\n

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Poison Ivey?<\/h3>\n

Bulls waive guard after Instagram rants<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jaden Ivey\u2019s career has taken a pretty severe turn over the past 15 months. Last season, Ivey was starting to figure it out and shine in his third year. After not being much of a shooter in his first two seasons with the Pistons, Ivey was averaging 17.6 points on 46.0 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from 3-point range. But on Jan. 1, 2025, his season ended with a broken left fibula. He had surgery on his right knee before the 2025-26 campaign and didn\u2019t return until a month into the season.<\/p>\n

After a surprise trade to the Bulls at the deadline and more knee issues that had him questioning his own confidence<\/a> (\u201cI\u2019m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead.\u201d) was shut down for the season by his new team. That\u2019s left him with quite a bit of time on his hands, and he\u2019s used that time poorly. After several religious rants while going live on Instagram, Ivey started<\/a> railing against Pride Month celebrations and the acceptance of the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?\u201d Ivey told viewers via livestream on Monday morning. \u201cThey proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, \u2018Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.\u2019 They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Hours later, the Bulls waived him for \u201cconduct detrimental to the team.\u201d<\/strong> Considering the messages he conveyed and his spiraling career on the court, it\u2019s fair to wonder if Ivey has played his last game in the NBA. That seems absurd for the talented, No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft. He just turned 24 in February. But the PR nightmare he just created \u2014 and not being healthy enough to prove his worth on the court \u2014 is going to make it difficult for him to play more NBA games.<\/p>\n

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Ivey was set to enter restricted free agency this summer and now will be an unrestricted free agent if nobody claims him off waivers. Not many top-five picks get dropped from teams whilst on their four-year rookie deals. <\/strong>Here\u2019s a trip down memory lane for some other recent examples!<\/p>\n