Collins is a fringe guy in NBA terms, big physical presence in the post, who teams such as Atlanta and Boston have used as a reserve. With Atlanta, he was very effective disrupting Dwight Howard when he was still with the Magic. He started with the Nets a while back, but has been on the fringes for a while. A useful reserve.
This is a positive step for a number of reasons - it is a mainstream American sport, and he is an American man coming out publicly, where it will get a lot of attention and raise awareness of the issues society creates for homosexual athletes within North America. Hopefully this can then spill over to other countries, due to the prominence of the North American market.
Also, as Collins was a physical athlete, he can help to break down stereotypes around homosexual men, that no only can they play sport, but also other than in sexual preference, they are no different to other men in their way of playing the game.
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