Kirk Hinrich Says Jason Collins Coming Out is a ‘Big Distraction’


Welp. After the Jason Collins bombshell, leave it up to Kirk Hinrich to become the first NBA player to put his foot firmly in his mouth. The hobbled Chicago Bulls guard, who missed last night’s Game 5 in Brooklyn, told the media that the Collins story is a big distraction as the Playoffs rage on. Per the Chicago Sun-Times: “Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich didn’t have much to say and called it a distraction, while Nets forward Jerry Stackhouse insisted the news is bigger than the game itself. Asked about the significance of Collins becoming the first male athlete to come out in a major sport, Hinrich said, ‘It’s really not significant to me. It surprised me but it’s just a big distraction right now. I was surprised after reading all that. It doesn’t really change what kind of person he is or anything. It’s just who he is.’ Asked what kind of teammate Collins was when they played together with the Atlanta Hawks, Hinrich said, ‘He was a good teammate, good guy. That’s about all I have to say about it.’ Stackhouse, who played with Hinrich and Collins with the Hawks during the 2011-2012 season, had a completely different take. ‘There’s a lot of things bigger than a game,’ Stackhouse said. ‘We live and die on a night basis because this is our job and this is what we do. But people are facing a lot bigger issues than whether they win a basketball game or not. Whether we win this game or we play a Game 6, or we lose and our season is over, this is an uncertain road for one of our brothers going forward, and I think that’s why we need to support him, not only as a league, not only as a union, and a body, but just as human beings. This is a big day for us.'”