Nick Young’s reaction to Jaden Ivey’s unraveling week was not centered on the original controversy alone. In Young’s telling, the most damaging part of the episode was Ivey dragging Stephen Curry into it.
That framing came after the Chicago Bulls waived Ivey for “conduct detrimental to the team” following a series of social media rants that included anti-LGBTQ comments and criticism of religious beliefs, including remarks about Curry. Ivey then went live again after his release and questioned the Bulls’ rationale while continuing to address the fallout publicly.
Young’s response was blunt, chaotic and unmistakably focused on Curry’s place in the league’s public imagination. He said:
“You take a stance like that, you’re done. I’m gonna tell you where you messed up at. It ain’t even about the community you was talking about. It’s the fact that your a** went at Stephen Curry.”
He kept pushing that same idea, saying:
“You’re done. You said anything about that man? You said something about Steph Curry. Oh yeah, you talk about Steph Curry. You called him, you called the golden child, not a Christian. Oh yeah, God might even do something to you for that. God don’t play about him.”
What made the comments notable was not just their volume, but their underlying point. Young was essentially arguing that Ivey’s remarks about Curry made an already serious situation even worse, because Curry occupies a uniquely protected space in the NBA’s culture. Whether that is fair or not, it was the lens Young chose, repeatedly, to explain why he thinks Ivey’s path back to the league now looks far steeper.
Young’s monologue then veered further into provocation and dark humor. He said:
“What other n*a you know that’s six feet and the best player in the NBA? Jaden Ivey, your best bet now is just be gay. Your best bet is just be gay. Like just f**k it. Next thing you know, you say, I talk about gays because I’m gay. Just say some s**t like that, because you’re done.”
He continued: “You talked about Steph Curry. Now you just got to get them on your side to come back. You want to come back to the league, you’re gonna have to do some Collison twins sh*t. Don’t you ever talk about Steph Curry? You know God done blessed him, the NBA done blessed him. You done told God’s favorite child that he’s not a Christian. I can’t believe this sh*t.”
And then, in a turn that only made the rant feel more surreal, Young added:
“Yeah, so they did something to his food on the plane. You’re not supposed to eat the steak. Don’t eat the food. Don’t eat that meatloaf they give you on the plane. That’s what it is, y’all. He’s just a little messed up. I believe in God and all that, but even I know you don’t mess with God’s favorite.”
He ended on a note that sounded, at least loosely, like a plea for leniency:
“Steph, he don’t mean it. He don’t mean it. It hurts when you get cut and sh*t. I didn’t even want to get my ring after that. I was like, damn, man, I got cut. I can’t even, I don’t want to go get this ring. So let him fly, y’all. Let him fly. He don’t know what he talking about.”
Nick Young tells Jaden Ivey: ‘You’re done in the NBA!It’s not your dissing of the LGBT community that’s gonna get you blackballed it’s calling out the golden child Steph Curry not being a Christian.
He says your only hope now is Claim you’re gay pic.twitter.com/b64eHuy9ts— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Thechat101) March 31, 2026
The larger story has not changed. The Bulls acted after Ivey’s own comments became public, and the fallout has been driven first by what he said, not by how former players reacted to it.
