Nearly 3 months after admitting that he was gay, Jason Collins is still without a job in the NBA. Not surprisingly there is speculation from groups, Yahoo Sports reports, that this can possibly be attributed to the fact that Collins in the only openly gay athlete that is active in the NBA. Collins addresses the issue and says:
“I look at it, honestly, like any other free agency in the past several years, where I know I have to stay patient. I know that at this point in my career, you remain hopeful that there’s a job and an opportunity waiting for you once teams start to fill out their rosters.”
Whichever team does decide to sign Collins will be making sports history but will have to downplay it in order not to make it a spectacle for the entire team. We have all seen how a media spectacle can distract a team and debilitate any ability to put together a solid season of production and results. Sadly, this is something to consider, but the reality is that there is way more than goes into this decision rather than the openly gay admission.
The facts are that Collins, who is now 34 didn’t have much production last season. He size would be intriguing to an NBA GM, but for a big man to average less than 2 rebounds per game is a problem that can’t be ignored. Let’s all take this for what it is rather than take it as a discrimination issue. Collins seems to be at the end of his career, and there really is no incentive for a GM to place him on a team and expect minimal production.