First openly gay NBA player Jason Collins marries longtime partner

Over a decade ago, Jason Collins became the first NBA player to ever come out of the closet and announce he was gay. The former Nets athlete has now gotten married to his longtime partner Brunson Green over Memorial Day weekend in a ceremony in Austin, Texas. 

The couple had been together for over 10 years already, and decided to get engaged in 2023 during Pride Night at a Lakers match. Jason’s husband is best known as a Hollywood producer who worked on the film The Help. Collins, on the other hand, became the first gay athlete in a major American sport after writing an essay for Sports Illustrated.

“When I was younger, I dated women,” he wrote back in 2013. “I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.”

The 46-year-old first started his NBA career in 2001 with the Nets when they were still in New Jersey, and spent seven campaigns at the franchise before moving to the Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Hawks and Celtics. Jason made his way to Brooklyn for a final run before announcing his retirement.

The newlywed began dating Green back in 2015 and even described how he met his husband during a Sports Illustrated interview two years ago. “I was dating another guy at the time. I didn’t see Brunson again until we ran into each other at a party three months later.”

“By that point, I was single again,” the former athlete said back in 2023, when recalling how the relationship started.  “Brunson left for Europe the following day, and, while he was overseas, I asked everyone I knew in LA, ‘Have you heard of this guy?’”

Their ceremony celebrated in Texas was joined by friends and family, and even included former NBA teammates like Richard Jefferson.