{"id":12,"date":"2026-05-26T15:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=12"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:41:11","slug":"jason-collins-died-without-seeing-another-nba-player-come-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=12","title":{"rendered":"Jason Collins died without seeing another NBA player come out"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Jason Collins, who played 13 seasons in the NBA as a center-forward, died Tuesday at 47 of glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.<\/p>\n

Read more The NAACP\u2019s goal is righteous. But its call for a sports boycott has problems.<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite playing for seven NBA teams and starting for the then-New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets) during their back-to-back NBA Finals runs in 2002 and 2003, the most memorable part of Collins\u2019 legacy will be that he came out as gay late in his penultimate NBA season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,\u201d Collins wrote in an April 2013 essay for Sports Illustrated. \u201cBut since I am, I\u2019m happy to start the conversation.\u201d Unfortunately, more than a decade later, the conversation Collins started has largely stalled. Aside from former NFL player Carl Nassib, there has not been another openly gay active player in the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB.<\/p>\n

Openly<\/em> does all the heavy lifting in that sentence because the likelihood there hasn\u2019t been another gay player among the thousands who\u2019ve played in those leagues since Collins\u2019 announcement \u2014 or among the many thousands who played before him \u2014 is nil. Therein lies the tragedy. Despite the courage he showed by coming out of the closet, there is still a closet in male professional sports.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why NBA Commissioner Adam Silver\u2019s response to Collins\u2019 death Tuesday is a bit awkward.\u00a0He said in a statement that \u201cJason Collins\u2019\u00a0impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations,\u201d and that he will be remembered for \u201cbreaking barriers,\u201d but the NBA doesn\u2019t appear to be any more inclusive and welcoming, and the barriers seem just as visible as ever.<\/p>\n

The statement is even more glaring given its inclusion of the WNBA, where players have fought for higher pay that still doesn\u2019t rival the men\u2019s game, but where players\u2019 sexuality has largely been a non-issue.<\/p>\n

The NBA barrier continues to exist despite all the professed support from NBA players, coaches and legends when Collins came out in 2013. \u201cThis is a great day for the NBA,\u201d Charles Barkley said. \u201cProud of @jasoncollins34,\u201d Kobe Bryant wrote. \u201cDon\u2019t suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others.\u201d<\/p>\n

And LeBron James said: \u201cI think it\u2019s very noble on his part. I think it\u2019s a strong thing to do, and I think as NBA players, we all offer him our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Victor Wembanyama is unlike anything the NBA has seen before<\/a><\/p>\n

Collins told ESPN last November: \u201cWhen I chose to come out, there was no scandal or anything. This was like, I feel that I am good enough to play in the NBA and by the way, I\u2019m gay. Just so everyone knows cards on the table, this is where I am. Thankfully the Nets were the one team that gave me a tryout.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Collins died Tuesday, Dallas Mavericks Coach Jason Kidd wrote on X, \u201cThis one hurts. Jason Collins was a pioneer. He had courage like you\u2019ve never seen. He was an incredible teammate. And having him in Brooklyn at the start of my coaching journey meant so much. Those who knew him were blessed to call him a friend. You are already missed my brother. Rest in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were a small number of people affiliated with the NBA who declined to make a comment about Collins\u2019 coming out or had less than positive things to say about same-sex relationships. One wonders if they weren\u2019t more representative of the way men in NBA locker rooms really think.<\/p>\n

The NBA, after all, is a league that until two months ago, employed Jaden Ivey, who the Chicago Bulls cut after he publicly criticized the NBA for recognizing Pride Week. Despite the homophobia of some of his social media posts \u2014 or maybe because of it \u2014 Ivey still had fans supporting his stance.<\/p>\n

Sports fans are often guilty of revisionist history and may think that when an athlete breaks through a social prejudice, it means that prejudice has been defeated.\u00a0But that\u2019s not true. Barriers don\u2019t necessarily fall with one declaration or essay, especially when those barriers are as entrenched as they are uncodified.<\/p>\n

The NBA has never had an explicit prohibition on gay players, but not having a written prohibition wouldn\u2019t have even been necessary. The idea that male professional athletes need to be straight to be accepted by teammates, fans and sponsors is so ingrained in our culture that it was always going to take more than Collins writing an essay to make a lasting change.<\/p>\n

Read more Victor Wembanyama is unlike anything the NBA has seen before<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the courage Jason Collins showed by coming out of the closet, there is still a closet in male professional sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nJason Collins died without seeing another NBA player come out - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jason Collins died without seeing another NBA player come out - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite the courage Jason Collins showed by coming out of the closet, there is still a closet in male professional sports.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=12\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T15:41:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0e7e8c3f25d88769b6f57094b647a155.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"Jason Collins died without seeing another NBA player come out\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-26T15:41:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12\"},\"wordCount\":815,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/0e7e8c3f25d88769b6f57094b647a155.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=12\",\"name\":\"Jason Collins died without seeing another NBA player come out - 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