Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in the NBA, has died at the age of 47. His passing followed an eight-month battle with Stage 4 glioblastoma, which is an aggressive form of brain cancer he had been fighting since August. This tragic news came during a difficult week for the basketball community, which also saw the loss of Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke.
Following the news of Collins, NBA analyst Charles Barkley used his platform on ESPN during the broadcast of Inside the NBA to address the state of the sports world and the legacy of the former Stanford star. Barkley did not hold back during the segment, choosing to call out what he described as a homophobic society. He suggested that the lack of openly gay athletes across major professional sports leagues is a result of this environment rather than a lack of gay participants.
According to Fox News, during the broadcast, Barkley stated, “Anybody who thinks that we don’t have a bunch of gay players in all sports, they’re just stupid. There is such animosity toward the gay community. That’s what’s really unfortunate. If you think there’s not more gay players in the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA, you’re just stupid.”
It’s been a really heavy week for the basketball family
Beyond his comments on the presence of gay athletes in professional leagues, Barkley also touched on the treatment of gay individuals within the Black community, claiming they are treated poorly. It is clear that tensions are running high throughout the league right now. Having two athletes pass away in the same week is an incredibly rare and difficult occurrence for the sports world to process.
While Barkley is known for being outspoken and occasionally saying things that catch people off guard, his comments this week were clearly driven by the somber atmosphere surrounding the recent deaths. He has never shied away from bold stances, such as when Barkley argued that modern kids are “dumber than rocks” and offered a controversial fix for discipline.
Looking back at the career of Jason Collins, he was a 7-footer out of Stanford who became a well-known figure in 2013 when he came out in a first-person essay for Sports Illustrated. Before he made history as the first openly gay player in the NBA, he had a productive college career. Collins played at Stanford University alongside his brother Jarron for the Cardinal in the Pacific-10 Conference.
During his freshman year, he played just one game before a knee injury sidelined him, though the team still reached the Final Four. By his junior year, Collins appeared in 31 games and started 11, averaging 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds to help secure a conference title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. As a senior, his performance improved to 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He earned All-Pac-10 first-team honors and was named a third-team All-American.
He left Stanford holding the school record for field goal percentage and ranked third in career blocked shots. On a personal level, Collins was in a long-term relationship with former WNBA center Carolyn Moos, and the two were once engaged before calling off their wedding. Later, he entered a relationship with film producer Brunson Green, and the two were eventually married.
When you look at the current landscape of professional sports, the list of openly gay players remains quite short. While Barkley insists that many more athletes are hiding their true selves due to societal pressure, it is difficult to verify those claims from the outside. To date, there has never been an openly gay player in Major League Baseball or the NHL.
The NFL has seen a few, such as Carl Nassib and Michael Sam, but the overall numbers are very low.
Published: May 14, 2026 03:00 pm