Jason Collins, right, defends a shot while playing for the Celtics. (Wikimedia Commons)

NBA basketball player Jason Collins came out as a gay man in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, becoming one of the first professional athletes to do so while still playing.

Collins is 34 years old and has played center in the NBA since he left Stanford. Though he's a free agent, he wants to continue playing professional basketball.

In his personal essay published by Sports Illustrated, he says he started thinking about coming out during the NBA lockout earlier in the year, when he had plenty of time to think about his identity.

"[T]he lockout wreaked havoc on my habits and forced me to confront who I really am and what I really want. With the season delayed, I trained and worked out. But I lacked the distraction that basketball had always provided," he says.

Collins also said that the recent Boston Marathon bombing "reinforced the nation that I shouldn't wait for the circumstances of my coming out to be perfect."

Read the whole story here.

Reach Executive Producer Michael Juliani here.