Nets first to sign openly gay pro player,
Since the widespread hope here is that stories like this one eventually become non-stories and the acceptance of homosexuality becomes even more the norm rather than the exception, we start with this sobering reality about Jason Collins and his historic decision to sign a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.
He had better spend these next nine days knocking heads and making good use of all six of his fouls, lest he find himself unemployed again soon.
Collins, 35, became the first openly gay player in any of the four major North American professional sports leagues, nearly 10 months after announcing he’s gay. In addition to the proposition that he could have an even greater positive social impact now that he’s employed to play basketball again, there’s the truth about the NBA, of which Collins again is a part. Good jobs are hard to find and even harder to keep.
With the Nets plotting their playoff push and having considered the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ Jordan Hill (via trade) and big man Glen Davis (via free agency) before choosing Collins to add badly needed depth down low, his first order of duty is to earn a second 10-day contract. From there, the Nets, per the rules of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, would have to decide whether Collins should stay with them for the rest of the season or if his sensational story would be coming to an anticlimactic end.
Nets officials, who went looking for frontcourt help because of a season-ending injury to center Brook Lopez in early January, were quick to clarify their collective state of mind in relation to the Collins signing Sunday, with general manager Billy King saying in a release: “The decision to sign Jason was a basketball decision.”
It was a subtle but fitting state-
“I think his attitude and just his outlook on it has been positive.”
Greg Lawrence, an agent for Collins
ment, a reminder that, as Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant said, “(Collins is a) physical, physical center that plays his tail off. That’s all we should worry about, is how he plays basketball.”
Collins now joins a team that is owned by a Russian man, Mikhail Prokhorov, who just sent a strong statement to his homeland. And talk about timing.
With the Winter Olympics in Sochi having put Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s anti-gay laws on center stage, here comes Prokhorov to show a more enlightened side. The billionaire, who ran for president in 2012 and lost to Putin, was quoted in June 2013 condemning Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda,” saying, “I think we are breaching the international convention of human rights and freedoms we have signed. My position is very simple: This is a personal affair. It is a personal affair who has sex with whom.”
Eight months later, Prokhorov’s approval of the Collins sign- ing was celebrated in the gay community and beyond.
Michael Sam, the former Missouri defensive end and NFL prospect whose announcement this month that he is gay came approximately three months before the draft, tweeted, “Congratulations to my friend @jasoncollins34 — excited to see you do work out there #courage#groundbreaking.
Robbie Rogers, the Major League Soccer player who came out as gay in February 2013 and began playing with the Los Angeles Galaxy three months later, tweeted, “Very excited to watch @jasoncollins34 tonight (in Los Angeles against the Lakers) more importantly I am proud to call him my friend.”
Kenneth Faried, the Denver Nuggets forward whose mother is a lesbian and who is a gay and lesbian rights activist, said in a statement released by the organization Athlete Ally: “With Jason Collins signing with the Nets today, I believe our world as professional athletes will open up and become less ignorant of gay male athletes playing and more accepting and embracing of the whole situation.”
New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who doesn’t typically weigh in on 10-day assignments, said in a statement: “Jason told us that his goal was to earn another contract with an NBA team. Today, I want to commend him on achieving his goal. I know everyone in the NBA family is excited for him and proud that our league fosters an inclusive and respectful environment.”
Last but certainly not least, Collins’ twin brother, former NBA player and Los Angeles Clippers personnel scout Jarron Collins, lauded his older sibling (they were separated at birth by eight minutes) for his ability to be ready for this opportunity.
“The word that comes to mind is ‘dedicated,’ ” Jarron Collins told USA TODAY Sports by phone. “I understand what it takes and all it takes to be a professional athlete. That’s why I retired. I can’t do that anymore.
“Of course it’s not going to come as a surprise to people who have played with Jason. His former teammates, or guys who know my brother professionally, that’s what (he) is. He’s a dedicated teammate, a dedicated athlete, and that’s the word that comes to my mind as far as the level of commitment, that he approached each day as an opportunity to get better.”
Those closest to Collins say he’ll return to the physical, roleplaying ways that helped keep him on an NBA team’s payroll from the time he was drafted 18th overall out of Stanford in 2001 until the date of his most recent game, April 17, 2013, while with the Washington Wizards. Collins’ first 61⁄2 seasons, came with the then-New Jersey Nets when he was a teammate of current Nets coach Jason Kidd.
In the months since Collins announced he’s gay in a Sports Il
lustrated article, he has become a spokesman for his cause and was even a guest of first lady Michelle Obama at the White House and the State of the Union address in January. But he also has been training, getting his body NBAready in Los Angeles and preparing for this day that finally has come.
When a training camp invitation never came his way last year and when teams passed on the chance to pick him up at midseason despite having a need because of various injuries, Collins’ agent, Arn Tellem of the Wasserman Media Group, told him to remain patient and positive.
“He was working out in the gym where our office was, so we’d bump into him all the time,” said Greg Lawrence, who also represents Collins as part of the Wasserman group. “And he was just doing his job, going to work, staying ready, and he really just had tunnel vision on it to make sure he was doing everything he can so if the opportunity came up, he was in a position to make the most of it.”
If the doubt crept in, Lawrence said, Collins didn’t show it.
“If he did (question whether he’d play again), I don’t think he let it on,” Lawrence said. “I think his attitude and just his outlook on it has been positive.
“Certainly with the contract that he has now, he has 10 days to prove himself.”