Amaechi: Jason Collins´ debut a mixed episode for NBA

Former NBA basketballer John Amaechi believes the debut of openly gay player Jason Collins is both a positive and embarrassing for the league. Collins came off the bench for Brooklyn on Sunday as the Nets claimed a 108-102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The 35-year-old became the first openly gay male athlete to play in one of the United States' four major professional sports competitions – the NBA, NFL, NHL or MLB. Amaechi, who played for Cleveland, Orlando, Utah and Houston, came out in 2007 – years after his career finished. The Brit said Collins' debut was a huge moment in the US but also upsetting that it was such a big deal. "The first openly gay player in male team sports, one of the big four, is certainly a significant moment," Amaechi said. "Is it also embarrassing for sport to have this moment in 2014? Probably yes. It would be like people getting excited a female executive was hired. "It's embarrassing we're having these kind of breakthroughs at this stage. It's a very necessary one and he's the perfect guy for it but we shouldn't get too excited." Amaechi questioned why Collins' debut was such a big talking point, saying it highlighted how big the problem was in sport. "It's obviously a positive thing. It's a good thing that Jason, a person with great talent on the court, got a job doing that talent on the court," he said. "It's a good thing that such a positive role model, and he was such a positive role model before anybody knew he was gay, is now able to be even more so. "But the fact this is a major story, the fact my day is interrupted every 20 minutes by media outlets asking me questions about this, is an indication of how terrible it really is out there within sport. "Fans don't care, we've seen that. We saw that by the reaction, the rapturous applause for Jason in Los Angeles. "Fans don't care, his team-mates don't care except that he's a good player, so who is it out there who's causing all the problem?"