Michael Sam's announcement that he is gay has garnered worldwide support, thrown the NFL back in the spotlight, and now compelled the NBA to revisit the Jason Collins situation.
According to ESPN.com, new NBA commissioner Adam Silver insists that the Collins situation is completely different than that of Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the Missouri Tigers who will be part of the upcoming NFL Draft in April.
"In terms of Jason not getting signed, based on everything I've been told, it's a basketball decision," Silver told ESPN's Darren Rovell. "Our teams want to win and Jason waited until the very tail-end of his career to make that announcement."
NESN.com reported, however, that 24 current NBA players are older than Collins, who is 35 years and 70 days old as of Monday.
It listed journeymen such as Rasual Butler, John Salmons and Earl Watson as still in the league. It also reported that big men Kurt Thomas, Marcus Camby and Juwan Howard all are on NBA rosters at the start of the 2012-13 season and are considerable older than Collins.
"The reaction to Sam's announcement forces a reassessment of that logic, however. NFL executives told (SportsIllustrated.com) that Sam's sexuality would hurt his draft stock, despite Sam being voted the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and Missouri's most valuable player last season," NESN.com wrote. "With that in mind, it's fair to consider if Collins' inability to find a team isn't completely a basketball matter."
The hole in NESN's argument is that in the case of Thomas, Camby and Howard, all three of those players had multiple seasons of double-figure scoring averages, and all three averaged more than six rebounds per game for their careers. They all were much more productive players during their careers than Collins was.
Collins never averaged more than 6.4. points per game, managed six rebounds per game in just one season and averaged 3.8 rebounds per game for his career.
Silver said he thinks Collins still could be signed if a team needs a big man.
"We want teams to make the best possible decisions from [a] basketball standpoint," said Silver, who is in his 10th day on the job after replacing David Stern. "Ultimately, that's what it's all about. I'm sure Jason was never looking for a special favor or a special slot because he had publicly come out."
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