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NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Collins, the NBA's first openly gay player, dies of brain tumor at 47, family announces.

Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in the NBA, died following a “valiant” battle with Stage 4 glioblastoma, his family announced Tuesday. 

Collins was 47. 

The ex-Nets player and 13-year NBA veteran had revealed his diagnosis in December in a piece published by ESPN. Stage 4 glioblastoma is one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer. 

Collins died peacefully at his home surrounded by his family, ESPN reported. 

“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma,” a statement from Collins’ family said. “Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. 

“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 had gone to Singapore over the winter to undergo an experimental treatment, which had been successful enough to allow him to return to the United States, appear at NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles and attend a game at Stanford, where he had played college basketball. 

The California native played in the NBA for more than a decade before he retired in 2014, playing two stints with the Nets — one while they were still in New Jersey and one in Brooklyn — along with stops with the Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Hawks, Celtics and Wizards. 

Collins became a national news story in 2013 when he announced that he was gay in a cover story for Sports Illustrated. In the opening, Collins firmly declared: “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” 

The announcement made Collins the first openly gay athlete to play in any of the four major men’s professional sports leagues in North America. 

“I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” he said in the story. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand.” 

Collins returned to the Nets in February 2014 when he signed a 10-day contract with the now-Brooklyn-based franchise. He played 22 games for the Nets that season and was coached by Jason Kidd, who played with Collins during his first run with the organization when it was in New Jersey. He retired from the NBA in 2014 and became an ambassador for the league. 

The Nets said they were “heartbroken” over Collins’ passing.

“Jason spent eight seasons in a Nets uniform, helping define an era of our franchise and playing a vital role on our back-to-back Eastern Conference championship teams in 2002 and 2003. He was a constant in our locker room — selfless, tough, and deeply respected by teammates, coaches, and staff alike,” the Nets’ statement read.

“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 in a statement. “He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares Ambassador. 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. 

“On behalf of the NBA, I send my heartfelt condolences to Jason’s husband, Brunson, and his family, friends and colleagues across our leagues.” 

Collins married his longtime partner, Brunson Green, in May in a ceremony in Austin, Texas. 

In September, his family first revealed that he was undergoing treatment for an advanced brain tumor

The Knicks have the luxury of sitting back and watching the other Eastern Conference semifinal play out to learn their next opponent in the conference finals.

The Pistons and Cavaliers are tied 2-2 — both teams have won their two home games.

But who would the Knicks rather face? There are arguments for either. Let’s break it down:

The case for the Cavaliers

The Knicks lost all three regular-season matchups against the Pistons, and it wasn’t even close — their closest defeat was by 15 points. The other two were by 31 and 38 points.

They were completely outmuscled by the physical Pistons defense and interior presence.

But it’s important to remember how often the regular season does not translate to the postseason.

The case for the Pistons

They are pretty one dimensional offensively. Everything revolves around Cade Cunningham, and they lack secondary scorers who can create their own shot.

Jalen Duren has arguably been the biggest underperformer of these playoffs — his regular-season averages of 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds are down to 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds in the postseason. Ausar Thompson is extremely limited as a scorer. Duncan Robinson is purely a catch-and-shoot option and nearly useless when he’s inside the arc or has to create for himself. Tobias Harris has had some big games this postseason, but he shouldn’t scare the Knicks.

And the Knicks, between OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges (who shut down Tyrese Maxey in the second round), have good options to guard Cunningham and force others to beat them.

Between Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, the Cavaliers have a bit more offensive firepower and a more high-octane scoring punch.

The case for the Cavaliers

The Knicks dominated the Hawks and 76ers in the paint. Even with Duren’s struggles and their overall inconsistency, the Pistons’ inside defense has been superb. They’ve given up just 39.1 points in the paint this postseason — the fewest in the NBA entering Tuesday. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, have given up the third most at 50.2 paint points per game.

The Cavaliers have a former Defensive Player of the Year in Evan Mobley at center, but he should have nightmares about the Knicks tormenting him in the first round in 2023. It’s become obvious how important Karl-Anthony Towns is to the Knicks offense — he’d probably rather deal with the skinnier Mobley than the stronger Duren.do

As a whole, the Cavaliers defense is much weaker than Detroit’s — their defensive rating of 113.1 is 11th among all playoff teams. The Pistons are third best at 106.1.

The case for the Pistons

Outside of his offensive struggles, Thompson is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA. He would almost certainly guard Jalen Brunson for the Pistons, like he did in last year’s first-round matchup.

Brunson has pretty much figured him out, though. Who can forget Brunson crossing him up before drilling the series-clinching shot in Game 6 last year?

Across their three regular-season games, the Cavaliers seemed to find a potential Brunson stopper in Dean Wade. In those three games, Brunson shot just 1-for-16 from the field and 0-for-6 from 3-point range when Wade guarded him, according to the NBA’s tracking stats.

The overall Cavaliers defense might be worse, but they have the better option to guard Brunson specifically.

The case for the Cavaliers

The Knicks would have home-court advantage. Little Caesars Arena was absolutely raucous when the Knicks and Pistons met in the first round last year. Pistons fans relentlessly chanted vulgarities at Brunson.

It would help to not have to play the first two games and a potential Game 7 there.

The case for either

Both J.B. Bickerstaff and Kenny Atkinson are strong regular-season coaches with little postseason success. Mike Brown has been pushing all the right buttons with the Knicks in the playoffs. They should be confident they’ll have the coaching advantage either way.

And in terms of depth, both teams are similar in the strengths of their benches. The Cavaliers are eighth and the Pistons are 11th in bench scoring in the postseason.

The Post says:

The Knicks should prefer to face the Cavaliers. The Pistons have looked a lot more beatable in the postseason, but even so, their defense has remained elite. It’s been on the offensive end where they’ve really struggled. The Knicks offense has been executing at its highest level in the two years with this core. The Pistons and their physicality would be a bigger threat to disrupt that than the Cavaliers.

Cunningham is the most dangerous opponent left in the East.

And home-court advantage does matter. Playing the first two games and a potential Game 7 on the road would be tough. It should also be noted that the Cavaliers have lost all five road games they’ve played this postseason.

With the Lakers’ 2025-26 ending after their Game 4 loss to the Thunder on Monday, there will be a period of “deconstruction”, as president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka put it, to figure out how the franchise can elevate itself after a four-game sweep at the hands of the defending champions.

But there will also be a wide variety of reconstruction: Inside the team’s El Segundo practice facility; on the roster; and in the front office.

The front office has already witnessed changes over the last several months since Mark Walter, the Dodgers controlling owner, officially purchased the team in October. 

And there are more to come, with Pelinka saying on Tuesday during his joint end-of-season media availability with coach JJ Redick that the organization is currently in the interview process for two assistant general managers.

One assistant general manager will work in “player draft and evaluation processes”, according to Pelinka, which will include pro scouting, draft scouting and player development. 

The other assistant general manager will be more on the “strategy side”, which entails cap, analytics and data. 

Pelinka’s comments on Monday were aligned with what he said in February. He told reporters then that he and Jeanie Buss, the Lakers governor and former majority owner, will lead the offseason changes with Walter’s support.

“It’s not that we’ve had holes in those places,” Pelinka said of the assistant general manager hirings. “We got a great team of people that work incredibly hard. It’s just we want to add more to that and for both those [assistant general manager] positions we have started a wide search and have begun interviews, but haven’t hired out either of those.”

The Lakers made significant changes to their basketball operations in the fall, which included firing Joe and Jesse Buss from their front-office positions in November. Joey was the organization’s vice president of research and development, while Jesse was an assistant general manager and director of scouting. 

The franchise also parted ways with most of their scouting department.

Since then, the Lakers have made several hires, including Lon Rosen as the president of business operations (replacing Tim Harris), Michael Spetner as the new chief strategy and growth officer (new position) and Ryan Kantor as the vice president of global partnerships (new role). 

Rosen, Spetner and Kantor all previously worked for the Dodgers.

On the basketball operations side, the Lakers hired former Virginia men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett as an NBA draft adviser in February.

Dodgers executives Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman joined the Lakers in advisory roles in November. 

Pelinka said the Lakers have made “numerous” other hires, but said they don’t publicly announce the addition to the data, strategy, analytics, scouting and medical scouting teams. 

But at the forefront of the Lakers’ front office changes will be the hiring of the assistant managers who’ll report to Pelinka, who was promoted to his current role as president along with his role as general manager as part of contract extensions he and Redick received last year. 

“Those will be two key pillars that we’ll add for this offseason,” Pelinka said. 

Inside of the building, there will be other changes the Lakers hope to benefit from that don’t have anything to do with roster changes. 

With the Lakers’ G League team relocating to Coachella Valley, the Lakers will have more space to enhance their practice facility.

“We have a space in the back where working in collaboration with some of the Dodgers folks, we’re bringing in a biomechanics lab, new movement labs, a recovery lab, those things are super expensive to do and super thoughtful, but we’re doing the planning with Lon and his team around that and that construction is going to happen this offseason,” Pelinka said. “They’re going to be redoing aspects of the court as well. It’s a full rebuild and retool, and it’s adding to the great things that are already here, which have led to success, but elevating it and bringing it to the next level. So an ongoing process that we’ll be doing throughout the offseason. Probably, hopefully, culminating in and around the summer league in Vegas.”

The Lakers will look different next season – well beyond the expected roster changes.

And they’re hopeful those changes will provide them with the foundation of getting closer to competing for a championship, and achieving “sustained excellence”.