With the return of Josh Giddey and Tre Jones to the lineup, new Chicago Bulls combo guard Jaden Ivey was an apparent healthy scratch during Thursday’s 110-101 home loss to the Toronto Raptors, the tanktastic bunch’s seventh straight defeat. Or was he?
Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic reports that the 6-foot-3 former No. 5 lottery pick out of Purdue was held out by one-and-done interim head coach Wes Unseld Jr. for coaching reasons — the odd man out in a rotation squeeze among six healthy guards.
“I talked to several guys this morning, and then I addressed the team about it, and it’s just a byproduct of where we are in our composition,” Unseld said Thursday.
During what Lorenzi calls a “bewildering” postgame session with media, a reflective Ivey seemed to be taking a big-picture approach to his benching.
Win, lose or draw. I’m here to do my job, glorify God,” Ivey said. “I don’t really think that it affects me that much, as far as not playing. I know that that’s why you guys are asking me these questions, because you think it affects me.”
The remarks took a decidedly more ominous turn when Ivey indicated that his rim-rocking athletic prime might already be over.
“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” Ivey suggested. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
Health has been a sadly recurring theme for Ivey since 2024-25. Ivey had been trending upwards before a catastrophic injury last season. During his first 30 games for the Detroit Pistons in 2024-25, he averaged 17.6 points on .460/.409/.733 shooting splits, 4.1 boards, 4.0 assists and 0.9 steals per.
A broken left fibula suffered during a New Year’s Day collision in 2025 ended his year, but Detroit thrived without him, advancing to the playoffs for the first time in five years.
But the trouble didn’t stop there. Ivey hurt his right knee during a preseason game this past October, which ultimately required a scope. By the time he had recuperated, the Pistons were already rolling, and he was relegated to a bench gig.
The Pistons flipped Ivey at the trade deadline in exchange for shooting guard Kevin Huerter, a player who thrives off the ball and could in theory be more complementary for All-NBA point guard Cade Cunningham this spring.
Jaden Ivey’s Uneven Early Bulls Tenure
Across his four healthy games for Chicago, the 24-year-old has been averaging 11.5 points on .417/.381/.889 shooting splits, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 dimes and 2.0 swipes per.
Deep in the Lorenzi piece, he notes that Ivey indicated lingering knee soreness was part of the reason Unseld didn’t play him, after all. Ivey also added that he has been grappling with knee issues “for years.”
“I don’t think it’s something that is gonna limit me or keep me from doing my job, ’cause I’m still able to go and play basketball,” Ivey said of the knee.
This begs an obvious question: did Chicago know the full extent of Ivey’s continuing knee trouble when the team traded for the restricted free agent? Because this sure doesn’t seem sustainable.
Ivey supposedly practiced without issue ahead of the game Thursday, and was apparently sat as part of a coaching decision and not a health problem, he is now — you guessed it — sitting out a practice and getting the knee looked at, Lorenzi revealed on Friday.
Billy Donovan returned to practice today and said Jaden Ivey went to get his knee soreness checked out today. “To me, I don’t think he’s played at the level that he’s capable of playing at or has played at.” Said “I don’t how much (knee soreness) is affecting him. He was… pic.twitter.com/Rmky3sEf8h
— Joel Lorenzi (@JoelXLorenzi) February 20, 2026“To me, I don’t think he’s played at the level that he’s capable of playing at or has played at,” head coach Billy Donovan, now back with the team, said. “I don’t how much (knee soreness) is affecting him. He was definitely available to play.”
Suddenly, this becomes more a dilemma of potential medical malpractice than a coaching question. How hurt is Ivey? Should he have practiced through the pain at all the other day?
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