September 13, 2025
Jason Collins, The NBA’s First Openly Gay Player, Is Undergoing Treatment For A Brain Tumor
Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play a game in either the NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL, the four major American sports.
On Sept. 11, the National Basketball Association announced that Jason Collins, the league’s first openly gay player who is now an NBA Ambassador, is in the middle of receiving treatment for a brain tumor via a press release.
“NBA Ambassador and 13-year veteran Jason Collins is currently undergoing treatment for a brain tumor. 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,” the statement read.
Collins, a former first-round pick in the 2001 NBA draft, had a solid, if unremarkable, 13-year career as a center. His most remarkable feat while playing in the NBA was his public coming out via a 2013 Sports Illustrated article. The following year, after he signed with the Brooklyn Nets in free agency, Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play a game in any of the four major American sports leagues: the NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL.
Notably, also in 2013, Brittney Griner became the first openly gay WNBA player to be drafted out of college when the Phoenix Mercury drafted her with the first overall pick. Griner played at Baylor University, a Baptist-affiliated private university. At the time, she noted in an interview with ESPN that the environment for women who come out is drastically different from that of men.
In a 2023 interview with The Athletic, Collins noted that there remains a need for male athletes who are gay to come out because it normalizes and humanizes gay people, in particular, gay men, who are still often targets of hatred.
“We need more and more male athletes to step forward so that we can get to that day when, after the game is over, everyone’s significant other is in the family room waiting for them along with everybody else’s, regardless of gender,” Collins told the outlet.
In 2021, when then-Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib became the first active openly gay NFL player, Collins remarked to The Los Angeles Times that Nassib’s decision would have an impact on people whom he will never meet.
“He’s going to have a positive impact on someone else’s life that he may never meet in his lifetime. I’ve met many people who have come up to me and told me how my story has impacted them. But he’s going to find that his actions have inspired not only people who are younger than him but older than him. I can’t tell you the amount of people who were decades older than me who came up to me and said how my story impacted them. You don’t know what to say. You’re still in that mindset of being an athlete and helping kids. But he’s helping people across the board, of all ages,” Collins said.
To that end, over his last two seasons, 2012-2014, during which time he played for three teams, the Boston Celtics, the Washington Wizards, and the aforementioned Nets, he wore number 98 in tribute to former University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, whose 1998 murder helped create state and federal hate crime laws aimed at prosecuting people who targeted gay people with violence. That jersey was one of the top sellers in the league at the time, and has since been sent to the Smithsonian Institution.
The Stanford University men’s basketball program, where Collins spent his college years before entering the draft, sent their love and support to Collins and his family via a post to its Twitter (X) account, as did the last team Collins played for, the Brooklyn Nets.
“Sending our love and support to Jason, his husband Brunson, Jarron and the entire Collins family,” the Stanford men’s basketball program wrote.
Collins recently married Brunson Greene, the 57-year-old film producer who received a Best Picture Oscar nomination for the Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer-led film “The Help.”
According to People Magazine, Spencer attended the wedding ceremony of Collins and Greene, and shared her elation over the newlywed couple on her Instagram account.
“Welcome to the family, Jason Collins. You’ve chosen well, and so has he! Love you, B!” Spencer wrote.
In 2018, Collins told People Magazine that before he came out publicly, only his friends and family really knew the reason why he chose to wear number 98 across his chest and his back.
“I remember being a sophomore in college when Matthew Shepherd was killed. 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. Sort of hiding in plain sight,” Collins noted.
RELATED CONTENT: President Obama Announces Key Administrative Posts
