Jaden Ivey...

Quick reflection incoming. (but only if you think a 8 minute read is “quick.”)

Self-awareness will save you from a lot, man. Remember I said that.

If you’re someone that generally struggles with reading comprehension, I’d advise you to take your time reading this or otherwise go doom-scroll on TikTok or something — “taboo” topics like mental health, childhood trauma, emotional abuse, homosexuality and Christianity will be mentioned and/or discussed.

Now that I’ve gotten my mandatory patronizing condescension out of the way (every successful writer must carry these traits), let’s continue.

Jaden Ivey was selected 5th overall out of Purdue University by the Detroit Pistons in the 2022 NBA Draft; he poses with his eventual wife, Caitlin.

As far as the sports world goes, March is one of the fastest moving months. Between the Women's and Men's College Basketball Tournaments (more affectionately known as March Madness), the start of baseball season, and the NBA ramping up towards postseason hoops, it's hard to keep track of everything. In my experience, if you are somewhat able to keep track of everything, you certainly aren't able to apply a requisite amount of attention and thought to everything.

So, yeah. I say all of that to say: when I saw the first of Jaden Ivey's video rants on my Twitter timeline over the past weekend, I’m ashamed to admit that I... just kinda breezed right past it.

I don't know, man. I work multiple jobs and run a media network. These days, I only really slow down outside of my work for my favorite sports teams and for girls I have crushes on. (I never said I was perfect!)

To get back to being semi-serious for a second, Ivey's IG live above features himself speaking at-length about subjects of Christianity, in a fashion that many have called... let's say... erratic? Erratic at best. It’s hard to argue that when Ivey's live stream produced quotes like this one:

"The Pistons not gonna matter on Judgment Day" is a quote I can't guarantee I won't parrot if the Knicks were to… say… eliminate Detroit in a hypothetical Conference Finals matchup. And while I do enjoy a good Instagram rant, even Stevie Wonder could fucking see that this kid is going through something. Battling demons, if you will.

Alright, I'm being dead ass serious now. Like I said, shit moves FAST out here in today's media landscape. In that spirit of that, I initially focused a lot more on the jokes and not enough on why exactly Ivey was suddenly speaking so boldly (and erratically) about such a serious and contemplative subject matter.

Once again, perfect? Me? Never claimed that. Only my mother has. Love you Mama!

Ivey went on multiple other IG live rants in the days before what turned out to be his magnum opus yesterday. While a lot of “Christian” commentary centers around homosexuality, Ivey somehow resisted taking on that subject specifically until this:

I love how this Evan Sidery character is just like “Ivey will likely get fined for this.” Dawg, an NBA INSIDER, who should have a really good grasp on how greatly the league values sponsorship deals and the et ceteras… yeah, dude. He’s “just going to get fined.”

By the way, please note how I said the NBA values sponsorship deals and not things like human decency, as several women beaters and other general psychopaths are free to play basketball night in & night out.

But, yeah. As I look into my camera a la “The Office” mockumentary-style — no, Jaden Ivey did not just get fined for this.

The team rostering Ivey, the Chicago Bulls, acted swiftly.

Within hours of Ivey’s live stream denouncing homosexuality, the Bulls released him. While many had already began debating whether the 24-year-old Ivey’s NBA career would ever rebound from this, Ivey wasn’t done yet.

In his final IG live stream of the day, while boarding a plane and going all the way up until flight attendants finally walked up and told him to throw his shit on Airplane Mode, Ivey expressed his confusion on why he was waived by the Bulls and also made time to take aim at some of the NBA’s brightest stars.

I love how the reaction to this one was like “yeah, you can be homophobic and all, but fire at LeBron and Steph? Yeah, NOW it’s DEFINITELY over.”

Ah, man — where to start? Well, most of the discourse around Ivey’s recent self-destructive behavior is centered around three central talking points in MY estimation:

1. “Wow, this kid is fucking crazy.”

2. “Oh, look! The Christians and the gays are fighting again.”

3. “Aight, man. Whew. How did we get here, exactly?”

Let’s quickly run through these one-by-one.

The Concept of “Crazy”

Initially, I was reacting in a bit of a dickheaded fashion to Ivey’s behavior. In talking to friends about it, I may have said things along the lines of “this guy’s gone off the deep end.”

Eventually, I did remind myself that I literally run a mental health channel on here and I probably shouldn’t be so hypocritical in my analysis of Ivey. Young Black men in particular are quick to get the “crazy” label if they’re the least bit outspoken and opinionated, and I wasn’t doing much to help dispel that notion.

We’ll expand on this in a moment, but usually when the crazy label is slapped onto somebody, there’s usually a lot of contextual evidence lying under the surface as to why people feel it’s warranted. Unfortunately, most of the time, people just don’t care enough to go searching for it.

Christians vs. LGBTQIA: Battle Royale

Christians say homosexuality is a sin. LGBT and allies say things along the lines of “your pastors diddle children, and you’re worried about us??” It’s an American staple!

So, here’s the thing: I was raised in the church and recently returned back to the church after a long hiatus. I know, I know — “you’re cursing like a sailor in this post alone thus far, and you’re gonna tell me you’re a Christian?”

AGAIN: I would never call myself perfect! Neither would the people that know me, trust me. Jesus Christ.

(that’s me actually praying for you, not taking the Lord’s name in vain.)

Anyway, I guess there’s a point there. I’m not quite a biblical expert, but I could swear there’s a verse or two in there that go something like “judge not, lest ye be judged.” Yep, went full King James Version.

I think there’s some others like “love thy neighbor”, “all have fallen short of the glory of God”, and the golden rule of “treating others how you would like to be treated.”

No matter what you believe, it’s just a psychological fact that someone being judged for who they are or the things they cannot change can do SERIOUS psychological damage.

I’m not really the biggest fan of… psychological damage. I don’t know man, I guess I’m just different in that regard. Being judged for who you are doesn’t really feel great! As Jaden has already intimated, I’m sure it won’t feel great for the Detroit Pistons on Judgment Day, either.

And again, I’m clearly just a different type of guy, so this might sound crazy: but let’s just say as an exercise that people’s interpretation of passages in the Bible are accurate in terms of homosexuality being a detestable and abominable sin. Cool. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a glut of prideful, haughty, vengeful, hateful, and bigoted Christian Nationalists in the White House currently who fought like HELL to keep the Epstein Files from getting out (maybe because many in this glut are pedophiles and rapists themselves — maybe!), in addition to ransacking immigrants with a militarized, murdering ICE, et cetera, et cetera. Just going out on a limb here, but maybe we should denounce and address unequivocally destructive behavior like that before rushing to scream at a happily-married same-sex couple that they’ll never even get close to sniffing Heaven. Just a thought, yo. If an NBA reporter happens to read this, can you ask Jaden Ivey who he voted for last November? I’m tryna see something.

Also, if you look closely on social media, Christian nationalist commentators are already taking up Jaden Ivey’s case to point toward a larger plot of persecution of modern Christians in a deteriorating Western world.

If this needed to be said, Christian nationalism is NOT being a follower of Christ — but of course, people got fired from their jobs for saying that after Charlie Kirk caught a speedy lil’ bullet to the neck. So let’s just say a friend of a friend told me that.

OPINION: If Riley Gaines is on your side, it’s probably not the right side of history.

It Always Comes Back To This…

If you’re unfamiliar with The Recess Bell as a platform, every now and then I like to scream from the rooftops that “EVERYTHING ALWAYS COMES BACK TO CHILDHOOD TRAUMA!!!”

My neighbors aren’t the biggest fans of it. But that’s okay.

I’ve always been fond of Jaden Ivey as a player; some of my Knick fan compadres will remember me begging New York to move up and select Ivey in the 2022 Draft.

This is a hectic moment in his life, no doubt. In terms of JUST HIS CAREER, it was never supposed to go this way. Ivey and Pistons star Cade Cunningham were supposed to blossom together into the NBA’s next great & electric backcourt — two young, fiercely athletic guards who could take turns attacking the hoop and playmaking for teammates at will.

A broken left fibula in January of 2025 stunted that process on Ivey’s end, and I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy for Ivey to watch the Pistons immediately embark on their most successful season in a decade from afar. Ivey never really recovered from his injury woes and was thus shipped off to the Bulls at this season’s trade deadline.

Jaden Ivey suffered a brutal broken left fibula in January of the 2024-25 season — serious enough that his leg had to be immobilized and Ivey wheeled off the court on a stretcher.

His career was objectively at a crossroads even before this recent rash of problematic Instagram Live rants. Contrary to popular knowledge, however: this past week was NOT the first time Ivey has been very honest and outspoken about his life’s journey — specifically, his trials, tribulations, and trauma.

“I think as a child, I think I just never felt love before”

“I definitely was sexually abused as a kid”

“I was tryna fill a void… [sleeping with women, drinking alcohol, partying]”

“[Me and my wife] went through trials together. I dealt with anger, she had to deal with a lot of anger that I had in my heart”

“… that turned into me somewhat being an abuser”

“I’m so grateful for my wife, cause she’s been there for me through thick and thin”

“[My fiancé at the time and I] were about to have our first son, Noah… throughout that whole year, I still struggled with the same things… drinking…”

“I’m just bawling… I’m just crying… [like] I have to grow up.”

Above are all REAL QUOTES from Ivey’s podcast appearance above — from March 2025.

Ivey has also intimated that he’s dealt with depression for years. Watching the video and listening to his words above… not really a shock, unfortunately.

The concept of “giving grace” is a polarizing one; especially as it pertains to someone who has caused real hurt to a lot of people in a multitude of ways like Ivey has.

That can all & will all be discussed in the days, weeks, months, and years moving forward. My main takeaway, regardless of any of that, will be that Ivey is yet another case of someone who was helpless in youth being abused and taken advantage of, leading to a warped worldview in adulthood in which he unconsciously carries on the same hurt that he suffered onto others. Clearly, that can’t be debated. Also known as the widely popular phenomenon of “hurt people hurt people.”

I don’t care who you are really, a situation like that deserves some grace, especially towards a 24-year-old kid who was handed way too much early in his life while he wasn’t close to being able to handle it all.

But at the same time, Jaden’s gonna be sitting in the pressure cooker called “Western media” for a minute. All we can do is PRAY that he can handle that.