Jason Collins Discloses Stage 4 Brain Cancer Diagnosis

Jason Collins, the former NBA center who made history as the first openly gay player in a major U.S. professional sports league, disclosed this week that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. The 47-year-old revealed the diagnosis in an interview with ESPN, explaining that he is currently in Singapore pursuing an experimental treatment after standard options proved ineffective.

Collins, who retired from the NBA in 2014 after 13 seasons with teams including the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, and Brooklyn Nets, first noticed symptoms in the summer of 2025. He described struggling with focus and confusion, including an incident where he fell at home and initially could not remember how to stand up. These episodes worsened in August, leading him and his husband, film producer Brunson Green, to miss a planned trip to the U.S. Open. A CT scan at UCLA soon after confirmed the tumor had spread across both hemispheres of his brain, making it unresectable.

Doctors informed Collins that without intervention, he had six weeks to three months to live. Standard treatments, such as radiation...