Retired NBA center Jason Collins has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and will begin cancer treatment, the league announced in a statement.
‘NBA Ambassador and 13-year NBA veteran Jason Collins is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor,’ read the league statement. ‘Jason and his family welcome your support and prayers and kindly ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jason’s health and well-being.’
Collins and his twin brother Jarron played together at Stanford before both joined the NBA in 2001.
Although he remained closeted for much of his career, Jason revealed he was gay to Sports Illustrated in May of 2013 as he languished on the free-agent market.
The following season, his former New Jersey Nets teammate Jason Kidd recruited him to Brooklyn, where Kidd was coaching the newly relocated team.
On February 23, 2014, Collins signed a 10-day contract with the team and in doing so, became the league’s first openly gay player. He’d go on to remain with the Nets for the rest of the season before retiring the following November.
Jason Collins during the NBA/WNBA participation in the New York City Pride Parade in 2024
Collins remained closeted for years as he built a reputation as a defensive-minded center
Collins’ No. 98 jersey quickly became one of the league’s hottest items in 2014. He later revealed he chose the number to honor Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who was was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming in 1998.
Although some accused the team of signing Collins to attract liberal fans in Brooklyn, the Nets’ front office insisted the move was a ‘basketball decision,’ and his teammates and coaches quickly agreed.
‘Toughness, rebounding the ball, being professional,’ Kidd said of Collins. ‘He brings a lot to the table for us.’
He also became symbol for gay sports fans, many of whom felt under represented by the leagues they follow.
Jared Max, a gay New York-area sports radio personality, told The Wall Street Journal at the time the signing was a turning point in the industry.
‘There aren’t just cracks in the dam,’ Max said. ‘There are places where water is flowing right through.’
Collins’ distressing health update comes after he and partner Brunson Green married back in May.
Green, 57, is a Hollywood movie producer and earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination for the movie ‘The Help’.
Collins is seen at his wedding to Brunson Green. In the background is Jason’s twin, Jarron
The couple even had one of the stars at their wedding.
Octavia Spencer posted a picture of the happy couple walking down the aisle, captioning it: ‘Welcome to the family @jasoncollins_98. You’ve chosen well, and so has he! Love you, B!’
Collins and Green have been together since 2014, not long after he announced his retirement from the NBA.
They reportedly got engaged in 2023 at the Los Angeles Lakers Pride Night.
When Collins first came out, he also became the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sports.
‘When I was younger, I dated women,’ he wrote at the time. ‘I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her.
‘I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.’
Collins became the NBA’s first openly gay player when he came out in 2013 in an open letter
As well as playing for the Nets, Collins represented the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards.
The 7-foot center was a First-team All-Pac 10 selection in 2001 and later played a pivotal role on two Nets teams that advanced to the NBA Finals.
He was also a favorite teammate of Kidd’s, the Hall-of-Fame point guard who remained supportive of Collins before and after he came out of the closet.
‘Jason’s sexuality doesn’t change the fact that he is a great friend and was a great teammate,’ Kidd wrote on social media in 2013.
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