Did it take an athlete coming out prior to the start of his professional career just help another athlete revive his career after coming out?
ESPN New York is reporting that the Brooklyn Nets have a serious interest in signing free agent Jason Collins to a 10-day contract, which would make Collins the first active openly gay player in the NBA.
Brooklyn general manager Billy King confirmed that the Nets had conducted a workout with him and said the feedback he received was that Collins is "in shape," ESPN New York reported.
"He's one of the names on the list," King said of Collins. "We will look at anybody that's a free agent that's big that's out there. We're looking at any guys that are free agents and he's one of the guys. But we've got other guys that we'll look at.
"We're going to look to add a guy," King said, "that we feel will help us."
Collins, a journeyman NBA center who played with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards in 2013, made what was then considered a monumental announcement in April of 2013 to Sports Illustrated that he was gay. The article was in the May 6 edition of the magazine.
But by the time his announcement became public, the regular season was over and he no longer was associated with any team.
No NBA team had signed him to start the 2013-14 season - he did have a tryout with the Detroit Pistons in August, without results - he refused to play in any other professional league and it appeared more and more likely that his professional basketball career was over.
The Nets lost center Brook Lopez to a broken foot in December, and they traded Reggie Evans to Sacramento, creating a void in the frontcourt.
Sam, the Missouri Tigers defensive end who will be available in the NFL Draft in May, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that he is gay on Feb. 9. The support for Sam has been overwhelmingly positive - so much so that NFL administrative personnel who said his announcement could have an effect on his draft status was harshly criticized.
Collins called Sam "a great young man who has shown tremendous courage and leadership" in a tweet following Sam's announcement.
But Sam won't play a professional game until September, and Collins still has a chance of becoming the first openly gay player in one of the United States' four major professional sports.
King denied using Collins as a publicity stunt.
"We're going to bring in a basketball player," King said. "It's not about marketing or anything like that. ... We are trying to get a guy in who can play basketball at this point. That's my focus."
But King did add that he understood the media blitz that would follow if the Nets were to sign Collins, and that situation is something the Nets would take into account in their decision-making process.
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