Report: Former Net Jason Collins Reveals He's Gay

Former New Jersey Nets center Jason Collins, who played for six seasons with the team including a championship run in the 2002-03 season, revealed he was gay in a soon-to-be published story.

Collins said in a first-person account in the May 6 edition of Sports Illustrated posted on SI.com that he “didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation.”

He tells the magazine, “I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful.”

In the story, Collins describes how the first person he came out to was his aunt, a Superior Court judge in San Francisco. His aunt, he says, said she always knew he was gay.

Along the way, Collins also describes how he and his twin brother, Jarron, were different when it came to attractiveness of girls and speaks of openly marching in Boston’s Gay Pride Parade in June with Rep. Joe Kennedy, his Stanford roommate.

Collins was traded by the Nets to the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 4, 2008 for Stromile Swift and is currently a free agent.