Jason Collins, NBA's first openly gay player, dies aged 47

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Jason Collins, NBA's first openly gay player, dies aged 471 day ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleSareen HabeshianJesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty ImagesFormer pro-basketball player Jason Collins, the first active male athlete on a major American professional team sport to come out as gay, has died aged 47. Collins died after a "valiant fight with glioblastoma", an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family said in a statement shared by the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He announced last year that he had been diagnosed with the cancer and was undergoing treatment to stop 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 on Tuesday. Cox / Getty ImagesHe played for six teams in his 13 seasons in the NBA"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.

The Details

Collins said in December 2025 that the cancer was discovered after he was struggling to focus. The brain tumour, he said, was like "a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball". Without treatment, he would be dead within three months, doctors told Collins.

When revealing his diagnosis to the world, he said it reminded him of his decision to publicly come out as gay in 2013 in a front-page cover story for Sports Illustrated. The years since were "the best of my life", he said. "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 what I'm dealing with. "Collins was being treated with a drug called Avastin to slow the tumour's growth, and had been travelling to Singapore for a targeted form of chemotherapy. Alex Goodlett / Getty ImagesCollins was once listed among Time Magazine's 100 most influential peopleThe California native started his career in college, playing for Stanford University before going to the NBA.

What Experts Say

He played for six teams in his 13 seasons in the league, starting with the New Jersey Nets. He had previously been featured on Time Magazine's 100 most influential people list. "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 on Tuesday.

He started his coming out essay for Sports Illustrated in 2013, by writing: "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm Black and I'm gay. "He was a free agent at the time the essay was published, and so it remained unclear whether coming out would end his NBA career.

While there were significant developments for the gay rights movement by then, gay marriage was not legal across the US until 2015.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.