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 receiving treatment for a brain tumor,” announced the league. “Jason and his family appreciate your support and prayers while kindly requesting privacy as they focus on his health and recovery.”
Collins and his twin brother Jarron played together at Stanford before both joined the NBA in 2001.
Though he kept his sexuality private for most of his career, Jason publicly came out as gay in Sports Illustrated in May 2013 while he was a free agent.
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 Brooklyn, making history as the league’s first openly gay player. He continued to play with the Nets for the remainder of the season before retiring in November of that year.
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
His No. 98 jersey became highly popular in 2014. Collins later shared that he chose the number in tribute to Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was brutally attacked and passed away near Laramie, Wyoming in 1998.
While some suggested that signing Collins was an effort to appeal to liberal fans in Brooklyn, the Nets’ management maintained that it was purely a ‘basketball decision,’ and his peers, including teammates and coaches, were quick to agree.
‘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’.
The couple even had one of the stars at their wedding.
Octavia Spencer shared a photo of the joyful couple on their wedding day, commenting: “Welcome to the family @jasoncollins_98. You’ve made a great choice, and so has he! Love you, B!”
Former NBA star Jason Collins has announced he has married partner Brunson Green
Collins became the NBA’s first openly gay player when he came out in 2013 in an open letter
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.’
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.
