Jaden Ivey’s Comments Show How Fast Beliefs Collide With NBA Business

We react to Jaden Ivey’s Pride Month comments and the Bulls waiving him, then weigh personal belief against the reality of the NBA as a corporate business. We also dig into religion, acceptance, and why public statements can hit fans, coworkers, and money all at once.
• Jaden Ivey’s remarks and why they read as anti-LGBTQ
• The right to speak versus the cost of speaking at work
• Why “conduct detrimental” is often corporate cover
• Doubts about religion as universal proof and how that shapes the debate
• Accepting people while still setting personal boundaries
• The business impact of alienating fans, donors, and employees
• Whether better on-court production changes consequences
• Questions for listeners on fairness, the NBA’s image, and player speech going forward
Please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show

Transcript

Intro And The Controversy Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, get a bucket. I'm your host, Trey and as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about here the NBA, but we're not talking about players getting a bucket today. We're talking about players talking. No, seriously, we're literally talking about players talking right now. It is quite funny. Not funny, but funny. Let's unpack what happened, right? So I know some of y'all have listened or are noting or are aware about what Jaden Ivy recently said. Now, Jaden Ivey, former standout at Purdue, got drafted by the Pistons, had some interesting times there, eventually got traded to the Bulls about a month or so ago. And he makes the statement, and it's viewed as anti-gay, right? Now he says this the world proclaims LGBTQ, right? They proclaim Pride Month, and the NBA does too. 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 on the streets, unrighteousness. All right. Okay, I hear that. I hear that. Then he also says, the Bulls said, my conduct is detrimental to the team. Why didn't they just say we don't agree with his stance on LGBTQ? Why didn't they say that? How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What do I do to the players? What did I do to the players? All right. So, ladies and gentlemen, I get this, okay? Again, being waived after making this statement, making these statements, I understand. I also understand Jaden Ivey's stance. Let's talk about Jaden Ivy's stance, right? Understanding that believing what you believe is okay. Like you have the right to believe in anything that you desire. To be clear, that is your right as a human being on the planet Earth. Can't deny that. Okay. You have to follow your own principles. And some people might even say, hey, this might be a shut up and dribble type moment. Like, how come the players can't speak up themselves and talk about their own beliefs? Well, you you have that right too. Like that's happened in the past. And in the past, there have had negative ramp ramifications that have been placed on players' feet. So, if you want to make statements like this, again, you have every right to do so. But I don't know if using religion is the best course of action to go about this. One, I I commend you for your beliefs. But now let's think about the other standpoint, right? The acceptance standpoint, if you will. There are a lot of people out here that are questioning is religion 100% factual? There are people who are called Christians that have doubts. So using that as a canon or law to say, hey, well, that's wrong, I think that's a bit tough to say. Everyone's POV of religion is different. For example, somebody might view God as a mass murderer or a dictator or a hypocrite. And I would actually be curious to hear what a Christian's mindset would be with those answers. That and that vantage point is fair. Like I think the flood, you can constitute that as mass murder. God in the Bible does say, thou shalt not kill. Again, the flood. Or how about thou shalt not be jealous? But at the same time, God is a jealous God. You can't worship any other gods. Hypocrites. Dictatorship. Do as I say, or else you're going to hell. There's a negative ramification if you don't listen to him. So it's not quite free will. It's more so if you don't do what I say, you get punished. And as as human beings, I know growing up, nobody wants to be punished for a fact. So we do things not by our own free will because we don't want to be punished in areas. So again, if someone says, well, that's a dictator, I can hear that message. Or hey, he's a hypocrite. I don't want to follow, okay, I can hear that message. Or he's a mass murder. I can hear that vantage point. Just like I can hear somebody say, oh, well, he's a savior and leading in salvation, I can hear that too. Again, that's that's someone's vantage point. As well as if you want to accept other people's standpoint, if you want to take the acceptance standpoint, also think about getting your paper. Because your job lines up with you shutting up sometimes. Like in the world, there are a lot of times where we want to say what's on our mind. But sometimes what we're actually saying might not be the best time to say something. And keep in mind, there are gay people that go support NBA players. They buy tickets. So what should we tell them not to attend games because they're gay? Because that also now starts to take money out of Jaden Ivey's pocket. What if your boss was gay? Does that mean you shouldn't interact with him or treat him decently? Because I could have sworn in the Bible it says God loves everybody, doesn't it? So I get your stance on being irritated with Pride Month or irritated with the LGBTQ community. I know people who are not overly gung-ho about gay being promoted on TVs and movies. Now keep in mind, I'm actually not gay, I'm straight. But I accept people for being what they desire to be. Now, I'm not trying to change people. Again, I'm not gay. So if someone were to approach me and said, hey, you know, blah, blah, blah, whoop-de-whoop, nah, bruh, I'll I'll really swing like that. I appreciate you. I'm gonna treat them with respect. Now, if you start crossing that line after I've already told you, no, I don't swing that way, okay, now you're being disrespectful to me. That might breed disrespect. But I'm not just gonna come up and say, oh, well, why are we proclaiming gay, like a gay pride month? Like, I'm not doing that. That's that's that's actually kind of ignorant personally. Because now, if we want to throw stones at glass houses, well, again, let's go back to Christianity and let's talk about some things. Because people's vantage points of Christianity, I just had a conversation with somebody about Christianity recently, where I brought up some points in a respectful manner, by the way. And the person didn't have but so many answers to give. So why are we judging from something that's never been proven as factually based? Unless we can see the deity known as God come down and prove himself, faith is a religion. It's it's it's hope, it's a prayer, it's a belief system that gets you through the day. Just like being gay helps get that person through their day. There's a gay community that helps support them. So personally, I actually don't like Jaden Ivey's stance. I get it wholeheartedly. I get it. But once you become public with it, that's gonna be a problem. And then you say, well, why didn't the Bulls just say we don't agree with his stance? Well, because to be honest, it's it's quite obvious. You just gotta give PC wording. See, this is a corporate environment. Now, not everyone can can work in corporate. I've worked in corporate before. I actually don't like corporate society. But if you're gonna play in the NBA, that is a corporate society, end of day. It's a business. So when you say, well, why didn't they just say we don't agree with his stance? How was it, how was this conduct how was this conduct detrimental to the team? Well, again, Jaden Ivey, if you're listening, there are people affiliated within the LGBTQ community that donate to the NBA, whether that's their time and effort, whether that's their hard-earned money to purchase a ticket or purchase a box seat. There are, or, or maybe there are people who are working with the NBA, whether they're actual employees or donors or whatever have you, that are also part of the LGBTQ community. But if you're making statements like that, they might stop it. So eventually you get waived. And here's the crazy part too. If you were actually producing a little bit better, your ass might be able to talk a little bit more. But you weren't. I'm sorry, you weren't. Quality player at Purdue, very good player. I thought you had good promise. I thought you had more understanding of the NBA and how it worked, which is why I thought you were going to do better once you got into the NBA. You had like connections to the NBA. Your mama played at one point in time basketball. Like, bro, like it's it it's quite daunting to see that we make such stupid statements. Again, believe what you want to believe. But the moment that you put these words out there, well, you're you're you're bringing in a lot of criticism. You are inviting a lot of criticism. And again, using Christianity, that's not 100% factual. Like while you might believe so, there are a bunch of people that can shred the concept of the Bible. The Bible's man-made. Aren't there supposed to be other books a part of the Bible? So the Bible's not given a completed statement. It's not giving a completed picture. But yet we're making this 100% factual statement based on the a book that man created. But you're saying it's a deity that called God that made them write this book? All right, I hear that. But I also get other people's vantage point about the religion. So again, ladies and gentlemen, do I believe it's unfair that Jaden Ivey got waived to a degree? Because you're going with your own belief system. I hear that. But ladies and gentlemen, this is the business, end of the day. So if you're gonna mess up business, eventually you do get the boot. So I understand that as well, too. And using religion is not 100% factual. So I can't slander, I can't have a major gripe with someone because of what the good book says. Again, if you're doing some evil, some wicked things like killing, murder, I hear that, stealing, I hear that. But loving somebody, I can't really get behind that one personally. But I'm glad that you felt that you need to be 10 toes down on this. And anybody else that follows you, well, just accept the fact that y'all might get waived and not be part of the NBA no more until you rectify that situation. And you don't want to play in the NBA no more, that's cool. But I do wonder if Jaden Ivey was producing a little bit more, would he still make these same statements? Could this just be a springboard for him to try to start something new? I don't know. Like he could really be 10 toes down on his own belief. And kudos to him if so. I just don't think it was the best move for him. That anti-gay comment, it probably won't the best. I wouldn't view this as a shut up and dribble mindset. I can understand why someone might think that. But again, if you're gonna quote the Bible, well, the Bible is supposed to be accepting of others. You know, you want to love people. I don't think the statement that you said breeds love and positivity. Because again, there's a lot of gay people in the world. So we're just gonna point out every single thing that they're a part of because then I'm sure they could point out things that Christianity is a part of that's negative. Like, come on now. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, I'm very curious what y'all's thoughts are. Again, Jaden Ivy, a quality hooper at Purdue. I thought he was gonna be a good player once he hit the NBA, especially for Detroit, playing alongside Cade Cunningham and them. I thought Buddy was gonna be able to get a bucket. But now he's waived, kind of political-wise, but I deem it as understandable. So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, what's where do you land? Do you think Jaden Ivey should have been waived? Are you now going to be looking at the NBA differently, whether it's positively or negatively? Do you think this will make other players start to shut up now? I actually am curious about that because I've seen people like Karis Levert try to back and support Jaden Ivy. And it's from a spiritualistic point of view. So I'll be definitely curious to see how this takes place going forward between the NBA players and the NBA organization itself. But ladies and gentlemen, that, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So again, I'm not trying to knock anyone's belief, whether you believe in God, whether you don't believe in God. That's not what his purpose is. The purpose of this show, the purpose of this episode was literally to highlight, I don't think Jaden Ivey did that the smartest way. You could probably start up your own podcast and talk about stuff like this and talk about religion and not have to mention NBA players or mention people who are associated with the LGBTQ community being highlighted by the NBA. Because again, that's the NBA's business, that's the NBA's right to do, just like it's their right for people within that community to be gay. Just like it's your right to follow religion and Christianity and be a straight male. But like I said, that does conclude the end of the episode. So, ladies and gentlemen, please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Get The Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.