Jason Collins’ husband Brunson in spotlight with ex-NBA star’s brain cancer shocker

Jason Collins broke barriers in 2013 as the first active openly gay NBA player. Sadly, his story doesn’t have a happy ending as devastating news broke about his terminal brain cancer diagnosis.

Former NBA player Jason Collins reveals that he has Stage 4 brain cancer.

Collins is currently undergoing treatment, but his diagnosis is terminal. pic.twitter.com/uPHdhwreaa
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 11, 2025

Collins, now 47, was known as a defensive center and played 13 seasons in the NBA from 2001-2014. He was drafted as the 18th overall pick out of the Stanford Cardinal to the Houston Rockets, who would then trade him to the then New Jersey Nets. Collins would play for multiple teams in his career before retiring as a member of the Brooklyn Nets.

February 23, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Brooklyn Nets center Jason Collins (46) during game action against the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half at Staples Center. | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Collins made world-wide headlines when he came out as gay in a historic first-person article published on Sports Illustrated. His opening sentence was so powerful: “I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.”

He’d add: “When I was younger, I dated women,” he wrote in the essay. “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 former basketball star began dating Brunson Green shortly after in 2014. They’d just get married in May of this year in Austin, Texas, over Memorial Day weekend.

It’s so sad Collins and Green are now dealt this hand with Collins’ stage 4 brain cancer diagnosis, but Collins is remaining positive and spending time with Green. He recently posted, “Even when fighting brain cancer, you have to recharge and @thesanchaya is the perfect getaway to do that. Very relaxing birthday weekend for @brunsong & me. ❤️🌴🌞😎💪🏾🙌🏾.”

Who is Brunson Green who is being thrust into the spotlight once again under these unfortunate circumstances?

He’s a film producer

Green is known for movies like “The Help”, “Chicken Party”, and “Pretty Ugly People”. He’s also president of Harbinger Pictures.

They met at a party

Collins detailed how he met Green in a SI interview: “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,” he told the publication at the time. “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?”

They got engaged at a Los Angeles Lakers game

It was reportedly during Pride Night in 2023 while watching an NBA game — Collins former profession.

Our condolences to Collins and Green for this sad news.

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