Jason Collins, First Openly Gay Active NBA Player, Dies at 47

Former NBA player Jason Collins, the first active male athlete in a major American professional team sport to come out as gay, has died at age 47.

Collins died after fighting glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, his family said in a statement shared by the National Basketball Association.

He announced last year that doctors had diagnosed him with the cancer. He was undergoing treatment to halt the spread of the inoperable disease.

"Jason Collins' impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday.

"Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others," Silver added.

Collins said in December 2025 that the cancer surfaced after he struggled to focus. The brain tumor was like "a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball."

When he revealed his diagnosis publicly, Collins said it reminded him of his 2013 decision to come out as gay in a Sports Illustrated cover story. The years since had been "the best of my life."

"Your life is so much better when you just show up as your true self, unafraid to be your true self, in public or private. This is me. This is what I'm dealing with."

Collins received Avastin to slow the tumor's growth. He traveled to Singapore for targeted chemotherapy.

The California native played 13 NBA seasons with six teams, starting with the New Jersey Nets. Time magazine listed him among its 100 most influential people. He retired in 2014.

"Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar," his family said Tuesday.

Collins opened his 2013 Sports Illustrated coming-out essay with: "I'm a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I'm Black and I'm gay."

He was a free agent when the essay appeared, leaving it uncertain if coming out would end his NBA career.

Gay marriage gained ground by then but was not legal nationwide until 2015.

Collins later rejoined the Nets after they relocated to Brooklyn. He became the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major U.S. sports leagues.