First Openly Gay NBA Player Jason Collins, 47, Dies Year After Wedding to Husband

In the months before his death, the former NBA player continued making public appearances while quietly dealing with health changes he later described in a personal essay.

Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, has died less than a year after marrying his husband in Austin, Texas. The NBA and Collins' family announced the news on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, and later revealed what led to his passing.

Remembering Jason Collins' Legacy

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Collins' influence extended beyond basketball. In a statement published by the NBA, Silver said Collins helped make sports "more inclusive and welcoming for future generations."

"Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others," Silver said.

Collins played 13 seasons in the NBA and later served as an NBA Cares ambassador. His decision to publicly come out in 2013 marked a major moment in professional sports and drew support from athletes, league officials, celebrities, and political leaders.

Family Confirms Jason Collins Died From Brain Cancer

Collins' family later revealed in a statement sent to the NBA that he died after battling stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

"We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma," the family said. The family added that Collins "changed lives in unexpected ways" and thanked supporters for their prayers during the past eight months.

His death came less than a year after he married his husband, Brunson Green, president of Harbinger Pictures and producer known for projects including "The Help" and "A United Kingdom."

In the months before his death, Collins continued appearing publicly while privately dealing with the illness.

Collins Remained Active and Visible in Early 2026

In January, the LGBTQ Sports Hall of Fame announced on Instagram that Collins would receive the 2026 Glenn Burke Advocacy & Activism Award for his longtime work supporting LGBTQ athletes and underserved communities in sports.

The organization said Collins was recognized for both his historic decision to come out publicly in 2013 and his continued advocacy work in basketball.

In February, Collins also appeared courtside at a Stanford basketball game. A photo shared by Stanford Men's Basketball on Instagram showed him wearing an all-black outfit while watching from the sidelines. "Always great to see our guy Jason Collins courtside," the team's post read.

While those public moments are now part of the memories fans are holding onto, Collins had opened up about the health struggle that changed his life behind the scenes.

The Missed Flight That Became an Early Warning Sign

In a December 2025 ESPN essay, Collins recalled how subtle changes began affecting a tradition he and Green shared after their wedding. "In May I married the love of my life, Brunson Green, at a ceremony in Austin, Texas, that couldn't have been more perfect," Collins wrote.

The couple planned to attend the US Open in August, continuing an annual tradition. But Collins said something unusual happened before the trip.

"When the car came to take us to the airport, I was nowhere near ready," he wrote. "And for the first time in decades, we missed the flight because I couldn't stay focused to pack."

Doctors later diagnosed Collins with stage 4 glioblastoma. Looking back, Collins said he brushed off the early warning signs and tried to continue with his normal routine.

"I had been having weird symptoms like this for a week or two, but unless something is really wrong, I'm going to push through," he wrote. "I'm an athlete."

In the months that followed, Collins shared more details about the aggressive brain tumor that doctors later discovered and the difficult treatment journey that followed.

Behind the Diagnosis

As previously reported, Collins disclosed that he had "one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer."

According to the retired athlete, further tests confirmed a glioblastoma "multiforme," which he described as "a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball."

A Dangerous, Aggressive Tumor

The biopsy revealed the tumor had a 30% growth factor, meaning it could have become fatal in "six weeks to three months" without urgent intervention.

Collins said doctors later told him that due to the tumor's placement — already in both hemispheres of his brain — it was considered a butterfly glioblastoma, making it impossible to resect fully.

He also said his cancer was a "wild type," comparing it to "the Hydra," and added, "That's the kind of glio I have." In an interview with Ramona Shelburne, Collins said he experienced major physical changes before and after the diagnosis.

"I'm now down to 240 lb, and before this, I was like 260. That was really crazy to lose that amount of weight," he said, adding that he also began experiencing memory lapses and episodes of sitting in a room without realizing how much time had passed.

Green, his husband, said Collins began behaving uncharacteristically:

"He seemed to always want to liberate himself from his clothes… 'Well, I feel like my shirt's uncomfortable, but I don't know why it's uncomfortable, so if I take it off, I don't have to think about it anymore.'"

When Green rushed him to the ER, doctors quickly identified "a baseball-sized mass in the middle of his skull." Faced with a cancer that was moving faster than his own body could keep up, Collins and his family turned their focus to the one thing they could control: how to fight it.

The Treatment Plan

Collins said his family urgently worked to get him discharged so he could begin Avastin, which he was told was his best chance to regain clarity. He began radiation shortly afterward. Within days, he started improving, from being wheeled into treatment to walking by the third session.

He later received care at a clinic in Singapore that offered targeted chemotherapy using EDVs, which he described as a Trojan horse delivering medication through the blood-brain barrier directly into his tumors. The long-term goal was to keep the cancer stable long enough to create a custom immunotherapy.

Because his tumor was considered unresectable, Collins said the standard treatment for his cancer type — temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy — carried an average prognosis of only 11 to 14 months.

He added that if the treatment path did not save him, he hoped it would help someone else. Even as doctors worked to slow the cancer's advance, the support surrounding Collins proved just as defining in how he moved forward.

Even as his health declined, Collins continued speaking openly about his diagnosis and treatment. After his death, fans and fellow athletes remembered him for both making NBA history and speaking candidly during the final months of his life.