Jason Collins made history by becoming the first openly gay professional athlete in one of the four major U.S. professional sports, and a year-and-a-half later, the time was right for him to step into the next chapter of his career and retire.
“It just made perfect sense,” the 35-year-old Collins said. “The past 18-19 months have been incredible. I’ve grown so much as a human being.
“After last season and especially over the summer, my body was talking to me like it does to all professional athletes after a certain while. It’s a young man’s game and Father Time is undefeated, and it got another one.”
Collins, who was at Barclays Center on Wednesday night for the Nets’ 122-118 triple-overtime loss to Jason Kidd’s Bucks, first made history in May 2013 when he came out publicly in an article in Sports Illustrated. He said Deron Williams had contacted him before the article was released and let him know Collins had his support.
“He reached out to me and it was incredibly supportive,” Collins said.
A big reason Collins became a Net last season was because of the support of Kidd, his former teammate, who fought for the Nets to sign him last season.
“I think it’s great,” Kidd said of Collins’ retirement. “[Collins] is a role model for a lot of people in this country and throughout the world. To have him around last year, as a person [was great], but he knew how to play basketball.
“He wasn’t one that could jump and touch the top of the backboard, but he knew how to be a true pro, and I was very fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to play with him here as a Net, and I thought it was a great for the guys to have that opportunity for what we went through last year.”