Collins was battling an aggressive form of brain cancer that took his life on May 12
Stanford is in mourning. On Tuesday, May 12, Stanford University and its basketball community lost a trailblazing figure in former NBA center Jason Collins.
Collins, a longtime NBA veteran after spending his college career at Stanford, lost his battle to stage 4 glioblastoma — an aggressive form of brain cancer — after an eight-month fight with the disease. Collins was 47.
On Stanford's basketball team from 1997 to 2001 alongside his twin brother, Jarron, Collins was a major star for a Cardinal program that made the NCAA Tournament every season he was on the team, including a Final Four appearance in 1998 and an Elite Eight run in 2001.
A McDonald's All-American in 1997, Collins joined the Cardinal as a highly touted recruit and earned several accolades throughout his college career, including first-team All-Pac-10 honors, the Pete Newell NABC Big Man of the Year award, and third-team NABC All-American honors.
Averaging 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds as a senior, Collins ended his Stanford career as the program's all-time leader in field goal percentage (.608) and third all-time in blocked shots. A highly regarded NBA prospect, Collins was selected 18th overall in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets and sent to the New Jersey Nets, where he played from 2001 to 2008.
Collins was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in February 2008, and then moved months later to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2008-09 season. Collins joined the Atlanta Hawks the next season, playing in Atlanta from 2009 to 2012. After his time in Atlanta ended, Collins had stints with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards before returning to the Nets and ending his career.
Collins made headlines in 2013 when he became the first active professional athlete among the Big Four American sports to come out as gay. Coming out in an essay he wrote for Sports Illustrated, Collins became an LGBTQ+ inclusion advocate and a global ambassador for the NBA. He was an inspiration to those who had yet to feel safe being themselves.
After coming out, Collins received praise from many, including Kobe Bryant, Michelle and Barack Obama and former NBA commissioner David Stern. Upon re-joining the Nets in 2014 — his final NBA stop — Collins elected to wear No. 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student whose murder in 1998 became a landmark moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Collins is survived by his husband, Brunson Green, whom he married in May 2025. Collins died surrounded by his loved ones in Los Angeles, and though he is no longer with us, his legacy will live on.