The Brooklyn Nets have signed Jason Collins to a 10-day contract while the team is on a west coast road trip and the free agent forward is expected to play on Sunday night in Los Angeles at the Staples Center when the Lakers host the Nets and it is historic, as he is the first openly gay player to be active one of the four professional sports leagues.
Collins is expected to play against the Lakers on Sunday night and the news was broken first by ESPN.com and the Nets tweeted out a picture to officially announce the signing. The picture showed Collins with head coach Jason Kidd, who happens to be his former teammate and the Nete are the perfect situation for Collins, as he previously was a part of the organization and he has support from Kidd as well as veterans like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. General manager Billy Kin said the move was a "basketball decision" and the report from ESPN.com said that the team was looking to sign Glen Davis, but he apepars to have agred to a deal with the Clippers.
The Nets had tried to work out a deal for Jordan Hill at the trading deadline, but when that didn't work out and they pulled off another deal to open up a spot on the roster, they opted for a contract for Collins. The move ends nearly a year of unemployment for Collins after he made his historic announcement that he was gay and now he will come ahead of Michael Sam, who is expected to be the first openly gay player to suit up for an NFL team after coming out after his time playing at Missouri.
The 35 year old Collins had remained on the market since making his announcement last year and the Nets were looked at as the most likely destination and now that has happened. Collins previously played a number of years with Kidd on the New Jersey Nets and now he joins him in Brooklyn and comes after he played his last NBA game back in April of last year with the Washington Wizards. Collins said earlier in the year that he was continuing to remain in shape and hoped to land with a team this season and now he has with the Nets.
The Nets are chasing the Raptors in the Atlantic division and they have turned their season around with a 25-28 record after starting off terribly and they play against the Portland Trail Blazers after the Lakers game. The team lost to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday and Deron Williams had 20 points and six assists to lead the way and they are ranked 29th in rebounds per game and they are looking to bulk up the front court.
