Former NBA Player to come out next week

Outsports.com is reporting that John Amaechi, a former NBA player is going to come out on next Tuesday's episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines. Amaechi played for the Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, and Cleveland Cavaliers, and will detail his NBA experiences in a book titled Man in the Middle. Outsports obtained a copy of the book which confirmed Amaechi was coming out. Amaechi, of British and Nigerian descent, currently resides in the UK where he runs the ABC Foundation and is involved in a number of philanthropic activities. Amaechi's publicist, Howard Bragman, told Andy Towle of Towleroad that:

[the athlete] is an activist for a lot of different causes, and thought it was silly that he wasn't an activist for the LGBT community, so he decided there was no reason for him to stay in the closet. [During his career] he was discreet but not deeply closeted. For people who know him or have covered him it's probably not a shocking revelation.

Amaechi is only the fourth professional athlete to have come out and the first NBA player. Looks the trend of famous folks coming out is going to continue into this year and it's especially nice that Amaechi did it voluntarily without being hounded out of the closet.