Former NBA player Jason Collins, who made history as the league’s first openly gay active player, has died after battling Stage 4 glioblastoma. He was 47 years old.
Collins’ family announced the heartbreaking news in a statement released through the NBA.
“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” the statement said.
The family described Collins as someone who “changed lives in unexpected ways” and inspired countless people both inside and outside the sports world.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also paid tribute to Collins, praising the lasting impact he had on professional sports and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Jason Collins’ impact and influence extended far beyond basketball,” Silver said in a statement.
“He helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations.”
Collins publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis in late 2025 through an emotional first-person essay for ESPN.
In the piece, he explained that doctors discovered an aggressive brain tumor that had spread across both sides of his brain in what’s known as a “butterfly” pattern.
Traditional chemotherapy reportedly failed to stop the disease, leading Collins to seek experimental treatment overseas in Singapore.
The devastating diagnosis came just months after Collins married his husband, film producer Brunson Green, in May 2025.
Long before his cancer battle, Collins had already secured his place in sports history.
In April 2013, he became the first active openly gay athlete in any of North America’s four major professional sports leagues after publicly coming out in a groundbreaking Sports Illustrated cover story.
At the time, Collins’ decision was seen as a major turning point in professional sports.
A year later, on Feb. 23, 2014, Collins officially became the first openly gay athlete to play in a major U.S. professional sports game when he stepped onto the court for the Brooklyn Nets against the Los Angeles Lakers.
He wore jersey No. 98 during that historic game to honor Matthew Shepard, whose 1998 murder became a symbol in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes.
Collins played 13 seasons in the NBA for multiple teams, including the New Jersey Nets, Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Washington Wizards.
Over the course of his career, he appeared in 735 NBA games after being selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft out of Stanford University.
Following his retirement in 2014, Collins continued working with the NBA as an ambassador and advocate for inclusion.
In one of his final public reflections, Collins wrote: “Your life is so much better when you just show up as your true self.”