The NBA’s Jason Collins has revealed he is gay; Bruce Arthur on what it means for professional sports,

Collins’ admission he is gay will test the NBA’S politics

There is a Jason Collins in every NBA locker room.

That is, there is a guy who is about 7-feet, sets good screens, can organize the back of a defence and knows how to effectively use his allotted six fouls. You need them: The era of dominant offensive centres is dying more every day, but you still occasionally have to face Dwight Howard or DeMarcus Cousins. On those nights, you need a Jason Collins.

“He is what I would call a glue-type player, a terrific defender,” Raptors executive vicepresident Ed Stefanski said Monday. Stefanski was the assistant general manager of the New Jersey Nets when they acquired Collins on a draft-night trade in 2001. “He was so strong. He is so strong. He guards the post. He did a great job for us directing and being a coach on the floor for the defence, telling people where to go, what spots to be in. He was always in the right spot — a great help defender. All of those things that people don’t want to do, the blue-collar kind of guy, that’s what he was.”

Of course, now people will be wondering if there is a Collins in every locker room in another context. On Monday, Sports Illustrated published Collins’ first-person essay in which he came out as homosexual. He is the first athlete in North American professional team sports to make such an announcement while he is still active. Collins, 34, will become a free agent after spending last season with Boston and Washington.

The news stands in stark contrast to Brittney Griner’s announcement two weeks ago. Griner, perhaps the best female collegiate basketball player of all time, came out to ESPN in what was practically an aside. For Collins, a journeyman who has played for six different teams: a long essay, a viewpoint article written by Jon Wertheim and the cover of the most famous sports magazine in the world.

This is a massive story, even if it might not be to the players who share a locker room with Collins.

“The problem is not the locker room,” former NBA centre John Amaechi, who came out in 2007 four years after he last played in the NBA, told the

National Post’s Bruce Arthur in August. “I mean, yes, you always will have one guy like Tim Hardaway. He’s an idiot, or at least was. But in most locker rooms in the NBA right now there are guys who are out, who bring their manager to every game, some of them even have somebody who is their partner and people know about it, and come to the Christmas party. And it’s within the locker room, and there’s no issue.”

Then again, Raptors coach Dwane Casey said on Monday that he has never coached a player he knew to be gay.

And as with any group of people, a basketball team features a wide array of people: Some are open-minded and accepting, some are willing to learn, and some are intolerant.

“I don’t think he would be treated any differently,” Casey said of Collins or any openly gay man in an NBA locker room. “I think what is underestimated is the maturity of NBA players as men, and how respectful guys are of others’ personal lives. It’s his business. That’s kind of the way I look at it. As long as he’s a good teammate and a good player, what he does in his personal life is his business.”

Whether or not Collins will get to serve as the first test of that theory is unknown. It seems inevitable that Collins’ ability to find a roster spot will become a political issue. If he does not catch on with a team, many people will think that is because he came out. If he does, some will point to it as an example of an evolving world. Perhaps some cynics will express a team is only doing it for the good publicity.

“I think what should be on the minds of a GM is whether Twin [Collins] can help their team,” Stefanski said. “He’s 34 years old. He’s never been a skilled player at all. He did all of the little things to make you better. At 34, what kind of player can he be on the basketball court? That’s what I think it should be, and that’s what I’m hoping it will be.”

That is the ideal of the You Can Play organization, one that is seeking to fight for the rights of all athletes, regardless of their sexual orientation. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has a partnership with the organization, as does the NHL and its players association. Others will follow.

Two seasons ago, Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for calling a referee a gay slur; on Monday, he was one of the first to speak out in support of Collins. Steve Nash, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Love and others did the same.

Eventually, this will be a nonissue.

“I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport,” Collins wrote. “But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation.”

The conversation, however, has been going on for a while now. History does not side with the intolerant, and neither will professional sports.