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Jason Collins, according to Newsday, woke up just after 8 a.m. on Sunday to find he had missed a bunch of phone calls, texts and emails from important people trying to get in touch with him, including his agent and Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd.

As you know by now, the Brooklyn team was looking to sign him to a 10-day contract.

They were also looking for him to play that very same night against the LA Lakers.

You might recall Collins came out early last year as a free agent and had been hoping to get signed by an NBA team ever since.

For almost a year there was speculation about who, if anyone, would sign him.

Some said no one would sign an openly gay player because of the media attention, because of homophobia, because of locker room fear, because he supposedly is an average player.

Well, his old team, formerly the New Jersey Nets decided for whatever reason to bring Collins on board.

With Nets coach Jason Kidd at his side, two hours after he got the call, Collins signed the contract, reportedly worth about $30,000.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver texted his congratulations to Collins earlier in the day.

Silver then released a statement reading, “I’m honored, in so many ways, that the NBA presented to him a comfortable environment in which he both felt comfortable coming out last April, and one in which an NBA team felt comfortable signing him based on his ability, and in no way to make a political statement.”

With all eyes on him, just a few hours later,  35-year old Collins was suited up in Nets black and white and was on the the basketball court at the Staple Center in Los Angeles.

Collins played 11 minutes, had two rebounds, a steal, five fouls and missed his only jump shot.

It wasn’t a spectacular scoring game for him.

But he’s never had a spectacular scoring game.

That’s not what he’s put in to do.

Jason Kidd knows that’s the case because he and Collins were teammates for a number of seasons.

The 7-feet tall center is put into the game to block, make rebounds and take fouls for the shooters.

For all outward appearances he was well-received by his teammates and the fans.

When the game was over, Jason Collins did what he was hired to do and then went to the locker room, cleaned up and went home just like all the other players on both teams.

And that was it.

The world kept spinning.

Gay Athletes
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