tumor

Retired NBA player and former Harvard-Westlake star Jason Collins is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, the NBA said Thursday in a statement released on behalf of Collins and his family.

“Jason and his family welcome your support and prayers and kindly ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jason’s health and well-being,” the league said.

A 46-year-old native of Northridge, Jason Collins and twin brother, Jarron, led Harvard-Westlake to state Division III titles in 1996 and 1997, with the former being named the state Division III player of the year both seasons. His 1,500 career rebounds stood as a CIF state record until 2010, when Hemet West Valley’s Joe Burton finished his career with 1,721 rebounds.

Collins made first-team All-Pac-10 during his senior year at Stanford. He was selected 18th overall in the 2001 draft by the Houston Rockets and traded on draft night to the New Jersey Nets.

Averaging 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds during his 13-year NBA career, Collins also played for the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards.

He was unsigned in April 2013 when he came out as gay in an open letter published in Sports Illustrated.

Signed by the Brooklyn Nets several months later, Collins became the first active NBA player to have come out as gay when the Nets played the Lakers on Feb. 23, 2014. He retired at the end of that season and has continued working with the league as an NBA Cares ambassador.

Collins and longtime partner Brunson Green were married in May.

Jerry Jones was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma in 2010 but overcame it with the help of an experimental trial drug, the Dallas Cowboys owner revealed this week.

“I was saved by a fabulous treatment and great doctors and a real miracle [drug] called PD-1 [therapy],” Jones told the Dallas Morning News on Tuesday. “I went into trials for that PD-1 and it has been one of the great medicines.

“I now have no tumors.”

Jones told the Morning News that he was diagnosed with cancer in June 2010 and began treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston soon after. In the decade that followed, Jones said, he underwent lung surgery twice and lymph node surgery two times as well.

He did not indicate when he began the PD-1 therapy.

According to the American Cancer Society, PD-1 is a protein that acts as an “off switch” to keep certain immune cells — T cells — from attacking normal cells. PD-1 inhibitor therapy blocks this protein to help the immune system better find and attack cancer cells.

Jones, 82, serves as the Cowboys’ president and general manager in addition to his role as owner. The first public mention of his diagnosis appears to have come during Episode 5 of the Netflix docuseries “America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys,” which will be released Tuesday.

While telling an anecdote about a completely different subject — his relationship with former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson — Jones casually mentions that “12 or so years ago … I had some cancer treatment” at MD Anderson.

The Morning News followed up on that comment during its wider-range interview with Jones.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders addressed his health issues Monday during a news conference, acknowledging that he’d kept the worst of it a secret, not even informing his sons or his team.

Sanders said he had his bladder removed in May to address a cancerous tumor. His scan looked normal from the vascular side, he said, but a visit to Janet Kukreja, Sanders’ doctor at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, revealed the tumor.

Sanders, 57, opted for a bladder removal and creation of a new bladder to remove the cancer from the organ. He said he was fortunate and urged others not to delay getting medical attention when symptoms occur.

“Let’s stop being ashamed of it,” he said he decided. “Let’s deal with it. Let’s deal with it head on.

“This wasn’t easy. Everyone, get checked out. Because if it wasn’t for me getting tested for something else, they wouldn’t have stumbled upon this. …. This could have been a whole other gathering if I hadn’t. It’s been tough. I think I dropped about 25 pounds.”

He said urinating is, well, different now.

“I can’t pee like I used to pee,” he said. “I depend on Depends, if you know what I mean.”

Sanders said he has returned to coaching, and smiled when he said folks shouldn’t be surprised if they see a portable toilet on the sidelines during games this fall.

Sanders had been absent for several months, and he lauded his coaching staff for picking up the slack and not asking too many questions. He has long had blood circulation issues in his legs that led to the amputation of two toes and several surgeries since 2021.

“Thank God the [coaches] are good enough that I don’t have to babysit,” Sanders said. “They didn’t know. They found out yesterday like the rest of the team. The team that didn’t disclose this to anyone.”