BROOKLYN: Jason Collins Debuts In First Home Game, Sources Claim He Will Get Second 10-Day Contract

Via the Associated Press:

A person with knowledge of the situation says the Brooklyn Nets will sign Jason Collins to a second 10-day contract. Collins signed his original deal on Feb. 23, becoming the NBA’s first openly gay player, and it expires Tuesday. The Nets then will re-sign him for another 10 days on Wednesday, the person tells The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the plans haven’t been made public. After that, the Nets would have to sign him for the rest of the season if they wanted to keep him.

Tonight’s game against the Chicago Bulls starts at 7:30PM. If you’re in NYC, the game is being broadcast on Time Warner channel 753, Verizon channel 576, and Comcast channel 212. Hit this link for channel numbers outside of NYC.

UPDATE: Collins sat on the bench until the final three minutes when the crowd began chanting his name. YES Network announcers took note of that. When Collins finally checked in with the Nets holding a comfortable lead, there was a huge ovation. His stats: 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 foul, 0 points. I monitored the Nets’ stream on Twitter, where there were some really ugly comments. Positive to negative tweets ran about 50-50 overall. But the Nets did win their first home game with Jason Collins, who was swarmed by the press afterwards.