Former Chicago Bulls star Jaden Ivey is under scrutiny for his controversial opinions on religion. He has even criticized the NBA for supporting the LGBTQ+ community. The 24-year-old is going through an existential crisis. Fans are criticizing Ivey for his comments, but a former NBA champion turned analyst feels the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA) should have looked into the matter.

Kendrick Perkins recently appeared on the Road Trippin Show podcast and outlined steps the NBPA could follow in such cases to avoid major implications. In Ivey’s case, the Bulls have cut him from the roster. “I’m not with what he said, but he has a freedom to speech, but it cost him consequences wise. But again, I did get the vibe that he has a heavy relationship with the man upstairs and it’s just something that he’s going to have to deal with. I just hope that the NBA or the Players Association are willing to step right on in and try to search these young men and have a conversation to get behind them,” Perkins opined.

Basically, the NBPA is a union that represents the NBA players and advocates for their rights and interests. The former Boston Celtics star believes the NBPA should provide emotional support to players in a dark place, including proper counseling. At the end of the day, the NBA is mentally and physically demanding, and things can become overwhelming even for the best. “The NBPA is more than just a resource for post-career planning. It should be more of a resource of shit like this. ‘Hey, where you at, bro? Yo, this such and such from the NBPA. Hey, listen, we can fly you to New York or fly you wherever. Come up here for two weeks, type shit.’ He may need that. So that’s my thoughts on it,” Perkins added.

To add to the list, Ivey has also criticized Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Lakers veteran LeBron James on Instagram Live, putting his future in the NBA at risk. However, he has mentioned that he has been struggling with depression, as he apparently had a troubled childhood. Also, right after getting traded from Detroit to Chicago, Ivey got sidelined with knee soreness after playing only four games for the Bulls. During recovery, he unfortunately suffered a knock in the same area, which is why the franchise shut him down for the season.

A lot of people feel Ivey’s NBA career is over, but not Perkins. The former Celtics man has been open about his bouts with addiction and feels that a mentor would do Ivey a world of good.

Kendrick Perkins opens up on his bout with addiction in correlation with the Jaden Ivey incident

Perkins was an addict during his 14-year NBA career and regrets going down that path.

“Hell, I was in a f——g drug program the whole time I was playing in the NBA because I couldn’t put the w–d down. That’s why you can’t get me to smoke w–d right now… I also have a lot of f—–g regrets as a player throughout the course of my 14-year career because I felt like I prioritized, in the off-season, w–d than actually working on my actual game. While I was smoking 500 blunts a week. I should have been putting up 500 shots a f—–g week,” Perkins said.

Interestingly, former Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti helped him out. Presti also helped Perkins curb his anger by arranging some anger management sessions and counselling.

“I do think having some type of mentor would help him. And I’m sharing that because I was the one that had to go get help, right? I was in Kansas for two months because I had anger problems, or they thought I had anger problems, and I was on the verge of my contract being voided, and I had to go to Kansas for two months and go to anger management, and it actually helped me a lot,” Perk opened up on the ‘Run It Back’ podcast.

Perkins had accepted his issues and was ready to make changes for the sake of his NBA career. It is unclear if Ivey wants the same. It looks like he badly needs a mentor who would listen to him and provide the necessary support.