His family released a statement this week.
ByAbby Monteil
September 12, 2025
Jason Collins during the NBA WNBA participation in the New York City Pride Parade
David Dow/Getty Images
Retired NBA player Jason Collins, who made history as the league’s first openly gay player, is currently receiving treatment for a brain tumor according to a statement released this week.
“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’ family said in a statement released by the NBA on Thursday.
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Collins played as a professional center from 2001 to 2014, joining the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Nets, Brooklyn Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Jersey Nets, and Washington Wizards over the course of his career. He publicly came out as gay in 2013 in an open letter published in Sports Illustrated, becoming the first out gay player in any of North America’s four major sports leagues.
“I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore,” Collins wrote at the time. “I want to march for tolerance, acceptance and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, ‘Me, too.’”
In 2014, Collins became the first openly gay NBA player to appear in a game, playing for the Nets.
“Sending our love and support to @jasoncollins98 and his family ♥️,” the Nets wrote in an X post on Thursday.
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For much of his career, Collins wore a No. 98 jersey in honor of the late Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming whose 1998 murder has become one of the most infamous hate crimes in modern U.S. history. Shortly after the athlete became the first active NBA player who was publicly out as a gay man, his No. 98 jersey became the league’s best-selling jersey in the NBA’s online store.
“I remember being a sophomore in college when Matthew Shepard was killed,” Collins told People in 2018. “Every time I put on that jersey, it was just a silent acknowledgment to myself and to my friends and family — who knew why I was wearing that number — of being a proud gay Black man playing in the NBA.”
Earlier this year, Collins married his longtime partner, film producer Brunson Green. The couple have been together since 2014, the same year that Collins retired from the NBA.
In 2023, Collins spoke to The Athletic about the importance of male athletes being open about their queer identities.
“When female athletes come out, everyone is like, ‘OK, cool, go in,’” he said. “But we’re still not there yet [with male athletes]. We need more and more male athletes to step forward so that we can get to that day when the game is over, everyone’s significant other is in the family room waiting for them along with everyone else’s, regardless of gender. We still have work to do with regards to male athletes.”
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