New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson has rushed to the defense of axed Chicago Bulls star Jaden Ivey after he was cut following criticism of the NBA for supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Ivey’s Instagram account, which has more than 200,000 followers, has been increasingly used as a platform for his religious beliefs and he made the comments in the latest of several online rants Monday.
‘The world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?’ Ivey told viewers via livestream. ‘They proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, “Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.” They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.’
The Bulls cut Ivey citing conduct detrimental to the team, which could impact the remaining millions on the final year of his contract. He has earned $32 million in salary since his rookie season of 2022-23, according to Spotrac.com.
But Henderson, who finished his rookie season by playing in the Patriots’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl last month, seemingly rushed to his defense on social media.
Replying to the video of Ivey’s rant, the running back quoted the passage Matthew 5:10 from the Bible that reads: ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’
Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson has defended axed NBA star Jaden Ivey
Henderson responded after Ivey was cut following criticism of the NBA’s LGBTQ + support
Ivey’s Instagram has been increasingly used as a platform for his religious beliefs
Henderson is also a deeply religious Christian and his X bio says that ‘Jesus Saved My Life’ and he is a ‘Follower of Jesus Christ’.
Ivey, the Purdue product and son of Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Niele Ivey, was traded by Detroit to Chicago earlier this year, but has only appeared in a handful of games for the Bulls before being shut down due to injury.
Later on Monday night, Ivey recorded a rambling 34-minute tirade in response to his abrupt release.
‘They said your conduct is detrimental to the team,’ Ivey said in the self-shot Instagram clip as he boarded an airplane. ‘I haven’t been with the team. I haven’t been with the team because I’ve been rehabbing [my knee injury].
‘So how’s my conduct detrimental to the team?’
He also predicted he would go unsigned as an NBA free agent: ‘They gonna cancel me, bro, I’m telling you. They don’t want this… God is faithful.’
Unprompted, Ivey turned his frustration to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, whom he said has ‘not surrendered.’
‘And y’all believe he’s a Christian?’ Ivey asked. ‘This stuff is not gonna matter on Judgment Day, all them rings he got, all them rings LeBron [James] got, all the rings Michael Jordan got.’
Ivey is pictured alongside his wife Caitlyn before his trade from the Pistons to the Bulls
Later on Monday, Ivey issued rambling 34-minute response to his abrupt release from the Bulls
As Ivey explained, he felt he was a sinner when he entered the league in 2022 as the fifth-overall pick of that year’s NBA Draft.
‘Before I came to the Lord Jesus Christ, the NBA was everything to me,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know God. I didn’t know Jesus. When I came to the NBA, I was a fornicator, I was a pornography addict, and I used to get drunk. That’s all I knew. And after a win, I felt good.
‘Lord willing, he gives me, he gives me an opportunity to play again.’
The video came to a bizarre conclusion when the flight crew politely asked Ivey to put away his phone. The NBA free agent agreed without any protest before sharing a few more words with his followers about Paul the Apostle.
‘Paul killed Christians,’ Ivey said, adding: ‘The people he killed, they’re dead, but God saved him, so why can’t he saved you from your sin?’
Bulls coach and former Providence College guard Billy Donovan addressed the team’s decision with reporters on Monday.
‘Everybody comes with their own personal experiences, but one is we’ve got to all be professional,’ Donovan said before Chicago’s game at San Antonio. ‘I think there’s got to be a high level of respect for one another, and we’ve got to help each other and then be accountable to those standards.
‘Organizationally, there’s certain standards I think we want to have as an organization and live up to those each and every day.’
