Jason Collins died Tuesday at 47, five months after a diagnosis of a brain cancer, the piece says. The report adds he had been married about 50 weeks before his death, and that he had spent the final year shaping a public philosophy for coping with criticism.
The piece notes Collins’ 2013 coming-out and his subsequent return to the NBA, and credits his presence with making life more breathable for others who followed. It says he navigated intense public attention and a climate of loud backlash while maintaining what the author calls genuine goodness and dignity.
In an interview in April 2025 at a West Los Angeles golf course, the piece reports, Collins described advice he had received from Judy Shepard and from friends about how to respond to critics, and warned against trying to answer every detractor. He cited cultural swings and the amplification of backlash through online bots, and said he felt disappointment more often than anger. The report paraphrases him urging people to use difficult emotions for positive change rather than letting them become a downward spiral.
The report says that one week before his death Collins, serving as an “NBA Cares” ambassador, spoke to roughly 20 children at a clinic in San Antonio on Final Four weekend. He told the youngsters about figures such as Sally Ride and Jerry Sloan and about a recent trip to Bhutan to teach basketball. The piece recalls Collins’ own words about having no championship rings despite a lengthy career, and lists 13 seasons, two NBA Finals, 830 games and 95 playoff games as part of his playing résumé, with Collins noting that he expected to have a wedding ring soon.
The piece concludes by thanking Collins for the scale of his spirit and for the example he set in coping with barbs and noise. It says he returned to the league after coming out and, through steady public work and personal grace, fashioned a way to keep living and to try to uplift others.
