Basketball fans and advocates of the LGBTQ+ community alike are mourning the loss of Jason Collins, a former player for the Brooklyn Nets and the NBA’s first openly gay player.

Collins died at the age of 47 on Tuesday (May 12) after a battle with a rare form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, according to TIME.

The Glioblastoma Research Organization lists the median survival rate at about 14.6 months in adults, with more than 13,000 Americans being diagnosed every year. Collins announced his Stage 4 glioblastoma diagnosis with ESPN back in December 2025.

“Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar,” Collins’ family wrote in a statement provided by the NBA. “We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months, and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”

Collins was born in December 1978 in Los Angeles, just eight minutes before his twin brother, Jarron Collins, according to the Los Angeles Times. The twins grew up in Northridge and played basketball in high school, helping Harvard-Westlake win back-to-back California Division III titles.

They continued playing basketball at Stanford University, with Jason making nearly 61% of his shots, a school record to date. He was named a third-team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and an All-America honorable mention by The Associated Press in 2001.

While he was initially selected for the Houston Rockets in the 2001 NBA draft, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets on draft night. He played for the Nets for seven seasons before moving to various teams from 2008 to 2013, including the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, and Washington Wizards.

He became a free agent and joined the Nets again to play out the rest of the season shortly before coming out as gay, and announced his retirement in November 2014.

“Those who were around Jason every day knew him not just as a competitor, but as a genuinely kind, thoughtful person who brought people together,” the Brooklyn Nets wrote in a statement on X mourning Collins’ passing. “Jason will always be a part of the Nets family, and he will be deeply missed.”

The NBA also honored Collins’ death in a statement on social media, highlighting his contributions to the LGBTQ+ community after coming out and saying they are proud to call him “one of our own.”

Mark Madden