Jason Paul Collins (born December 2, 1978) is a retired American basketball player. He was a center for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
College
Collins played college basketball for Stanford University and was named to the All-Pac-10 first team in 2001.
NBA career
He was drafted by the New Jersey Nets with the 18th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft.
He helped the Nets reach the NBA finals in 2001 but they were swept by the Los Angeles Lakers. He played 7 seasons with the Nets and he was traded with cash considerations to the Memphis Grizzlies for Stromile Swift. He played 31 games for the Grizzlies and then he was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in an eight-player deal involving Kevin Love and O. J. Mayo. When his contract expired at the end of the 2008–09 NBA season, the Timberwolves didn't re-sign him and he signed with the Atlanta Hawks on September 2, 2009. He played 3 seasons with the Hawks and signed an undisclosed deal with the Boston Celtics. He was traded by the Celtics to the Washington Wizards on February 21, 2013 for Jordan Crawford.
Personal
His twin brother Jarron Collins also played in the NBA. On April 29, 2013, Collins wrote the cover story of Sports Illustrated in which he publicly come out as gay. He became the first active male professional athlete in any of the four major North American pro sports leagues to come out. He said that he chose the jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a victim of a gay hate crime in 1998. Collins said that the number was "a statement to myself, my family and my friends".