Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47

1 hour ago 9

Collins suffered from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

Published May 12, 2026 • Last updated 11 minutes ago • 1 minute read

Jason Collins, the first active male athlete on a major U.S. sports team to live openly gay, has died. He was 47.

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Collins died after a battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive, inoperable brain cancer, his family said in a statement. He publicly announced he was diagnosed with the disease and was undergoing treatment to stop its spread.

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“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.”

Collins said his cancer was discovered in 2025 after he found it hard to focus. The tumour he said, was “a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball,” and that without treatment doctors told him he would be dead within three months.

Free to be himself

Collins said publicly revealing the diagnosis reminded him of coming out as gay in 2013 in a Sports Illustrated story. He called the years since then the best of his 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, a California native, played for six teams in his 13 seasons in the NBA, starting with the New Jersey Nets. He had previously been featured on Time Magazine‘s 100 most influential people list. He retired in 2014.

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