NBA’s First Openly-Gay Player Jason Collins’ Cancer Battle

Jason Collins, 47, passed away on May 12, 2026, after a battle with stage 4 glioblastoma. The National Basketball Association (NBA) released the following statement from his family, announcing his passing:

“We are heartbroken to share that Jason Collins, our beloved husband, son, brother and uncle, has died after a valiant fight with glioblastoma. Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly.”

Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer, known for spreading quickly into nearby brain tissue, making it difficult to remove completely. According to the Glioblastoma Research Organization, the median survival rate for glioblastoma is just over 14 months.

Unfortunately, there is currently no cure available for glioblastoma. However, surgery, radiation or chemotherapy may slow down the cancer spread, alleviate symptoms, and help people live for longer.

In December 2025, Collins shared his cancer story in an interview with ESPN: “In August, we were supposed to go to the US Open, just as every year, but when the car came to take us to the airport, I was nowhere near ready. And for the first time in decades, we missed the flight because I couldn't stay focused to pack.”

According to him, he’d been having “weird symptoms like this for a week or two”, but dismissed them initially, thinking: “I'm going to push through. I'm an athlete.”

Eventually, Collins underwent a CT scan at UCLA to investigate his symptoms further. Five minutes in, he was quickly pulled out, and recommended to see a specialist. Managing his symptoms was a difficult time for Collins, who shared that according to his family, “in hours, my mental clarity, short-term memory and comprehension disappeared”.

He was told that his glioblastoma was “impossible to fully resect without coming out of the surgery ‘different’”. He started on Avastin, fully approved by the FDA in 2017 for recurrent glioblastoma. The treatment worked by limiting blood vessel growth to shrink the tumor. After that, he followed-up with radiotherapy.

Unfortunately, Collins’ tumor was too complex for the standard chemotherapy treatment, temozolomide, and he had to undergo targeted chemotherapy in Singapore. The treatment was especially designed to target specific proteins on his cancer cells, improving the chances of the drug reaching his tumor.

Collins started his basketball career in college, and played for Stanford University before going to the NBA. Throughout his career, he played for six teams, starting with the New Jersey Nets. He eventually retired in 2014, after a 13-year career.

Collins was well-known for being the first openly gay player in NBA history. He came out publicly in 2013, through a front-page cover story for Sports Illustrated, starting with: “I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm Black and I'm gay.” At the time, gay marriage had not yet been legalized in the US, with legislation only passing in 2015.

In 2014, Collins was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.