Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete in North America’s four major professional sports Sunday, signing a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets.
Via ESPN reports:
Collins checked in with 10:28 to go in the second quarter and received a round of applause from the Staples Center crowd.
“Sometimes in life something happens and there’s an opportunity,” he said shortly before taking on the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday night. “I’m very thankful for this opportunity. That’s why I work so hard, why I train the way I do so that when I do have an opportunity physically I’m not worried about my conditioning or cardio or anything along those lines.”
“The decision to sign Jason was a basketball decision,” Nets general manager Billy King said in a statement. “We needed to increase our depth inside, and with his experience and size, we felt he was the right choice for a 10-day contract.”
The Nets tweeted out a picture of Collins signing his contract.
Collins will wear No. 98 for the Nets, but was unable to
wear it Sunday because it was not available in time for the game against the Lakers, so he wore No. 46 instead.
Collins’ choice of the No. 98 is in honor of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who died in a notorious anti-gay hate crime in 1998. Collins has worn the jersey number with both the Celtics and Wizards.
The Nets moved quickly to make the historic signing of the 35-year-old free agent center to have another big body available against the Lakers. Brooklyn had been contemplating signing Collins for the past week and the need for Collins became greater after the Nets dealt rebounding specialist Reggie Evans to the Sacramento Kings last week.
“Life is so much better for me. I don’t have to hide who I am. Just be my normal self,” Collins said. “The past 10 months have been incredible. A lot of really cool experiences, learning a lot, making new friends and hearing peoples’ stories. Overall, it’s been really positive.”
Openly NFL baller Michael Sam tweeted this to Jason:
Collins averaged 1.1 ppg and 1.6 rpg last season. The Nets can say they need him to contribute all they want, but allot of people think this a publicity stunt.
What do you think?
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