Jason Collins, first active NBA player to come out as gay, dies at 47

Jason Collins, the Stanford-trained center who in April 2013 became the first active male player in a North American big-four league to publicly come out as gay—and who later completed that story on the floor with the Brooklyn Nets in February 2014—died May 12, 2026, at 47, his family and the NBA announced. A family message distributed by the league said he died after a “valiant fight with glioblastoma,” an aggressive brain cancer; relatives thanked supporters for eight months of prayers and praised his medical team. Newsorga summarizes the confirmed medical framing, Adam Silver’s league statement, and Collins’s playing résumé and historical place in sport.

Cause of death

Glioblastoma is an aggressive primary brain cancer with a characteristically poor prognosis; Collins had publicly confirmed that diagnosis in December 2025, following a September 11, 2025 NBA-mediated note that he was undergoing brain tumor treatment. The May 12 notices point to death at home in Los Angeles (as biographical summaries also list). Newsorga will update if a county medical examiner’s report adds toxicology-neutral detail; nothing in the initial family and league texts suggested anything other than natural disease progression.

League and family statements

Commissioner Silver said Collins’ “impact and influence extended far beyond basketball” and credited him with helping make the NBA, WNBA, and wider sports world “more inclusive and welcoming,” while saluting his “outstanding leadership and professionalism” across 13 NBA seasons and later work as an NBA Cares ambassador. Silver offered condolences to Collins’s husband—the league text used the given name Brunson, matching public references to Brunson Green—and to relatives and colleagues.

The family’s parallel text called Collins a “beloved husband, son, brother and uncle” who “changed lives in unexpected ways.” Those lines matter because they anchor public mourning in intimacy, not politics—while acknowledging that, for millions of fans, Collins’s name will always be tied to courage in the closet’s long shadow.

Who he was before the headlines

Born December 2, 1978, in Northridge, California, Collins attended Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles alongside twin Jarron Collins, who also reached the NBA. At Stanford, he developed into a third-team All-American (NABC, 2001), won Pete Newell Big Man honors, and shot roughly 61 % from the field for his career—numbers that persuaded Houston to draft him 18th overall in 2001 before a draft-night path landed him with New Jersey.

Listed at 7-foot-0 yet measured closer to 6-foot-10¼ at the 2001 combine, Collins carved a role as a screen-setter, post defender, and playoff workhorse on Nets teams that reached the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. Coaches valued his communication and physicality against stars such as Dwight Howard during later Atlanta Hawks playoff runs.

The 2013–14 arc: coming out, free agency, Brooklyn

On April 29, 2013, Sports Illustrated published Collins’s first-person essay with Franz Lidz, ending years of speculation and making history. He stressed privacy on certain personal details but was explicit about identity—and about why he later chose jersey No. 98 in tribute to Matthew Shepard. Support rolled in from Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Kobe Bryant, David Stern, and corporate partners such as Nike, even as some commentators offered homophobic pushback Collins calmly rebutted.

Because he reached free agency that summer, the precise word “active” can blur: he was not on a playoff roster the night the essay dropped, but he was still an unrestricted free agent coming off an NBA season—widely reported at the time as the first such disclosure in NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL history for a male player. After months without a contract, he signed successive 10-day deals with Brooklyn in February 2014, then stuck for the rest of the year—becoming, when he checked into games, the first openly gay man to appear in one of those leagues. The New York Times later called it perhaps the most scrutinized 10-day pact in league lore; his No. 98 jersey briefly topped NBA store sales with proceeds directed to LGBTQ nonprofits.

Career statistics (regular season and playoffs)

Across 735 regular-season games and 477 starts, Collins averaged 3.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists in 20.4 minutes, shooting 41.1 % from the field and 64.7 % at the foul line—modest counting stats masking analytics-era respect for his defense and screening. He added 95 playoff contests (71 starts), averaging 3.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21.4 minutes, including 20 starts during New Jersey’s 2003 Finals return. He retired in November 2014 after stops with Memphis, Minnesota, Boston, and Washington.

Life after playing

Collins leaned into ambassadorship: NBA Cares appearances, Time 100 recognition in 2014, and continued advocacy—including league-supported LGBTQ youth programming the NBA still highlights in diversity retrospectives. He married producer Brunson Green in May 2025, a milestone friends described as joy hard-won after years in the public glare.

Why the story still matters

Every generation re-litigates inclusion; Collins supplied a playbook—dignified disclosure, patience through unemployment, then proof-of-concept minutes on a contending-adjacent roster. His death closes a life but not the argument he advanced: that professionalism and authenticity can coexist in televised arenas where stigma used to pass for tradition. Newsorga joins the league in mourning a player whose numbers were never the headline, yet whose name changed the box score of who gets to belong.