Mailbag: Collins media frenzy, Westbrook's return, more

Consider the many negative off-the-record responses from NFL people to Michael Sam's coming out. There is an expectation within the NFL that its league "isn't

Ian Thomsen | Feb 25, 2014

Mailbag: Collins media frenzy, Westbrook's return, more /

Jason Collins became the NBA's first openly gay player to play in a game on Sunday against the Lakers. — Jason Collins became the NBA's first openly gay player to play in a game on Sunday against the Lakers :: Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Consider the many negative off-the-record responses from NFL people to Michael Sam's coming out. There is an expectation within the NFL that its league "isn't ready" to treat a gay player with respect. The NFL controversy over Sam has taken attention away from the ground Collins is now breaking in the NBA, where little to no controversy is expected.

The Lakers are in the tougher conference, John, and the Knicks will be under additional pressure to make the playoffs because they've already traded their first-round pick to Denver.

Published Feb 25, 2014

IAN THOMSEN

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Ian Thomsen, who joined the magazine in 1998, is one of SI's top basketball scribes. Along with writing columns and features for SI, Thomsen is a frequent contributor to SI.com. Before joining SI, Thomsen spent six years in Europe as the sports columnist for the International Herald Tribune, the world's largest international English-language daily. While at the paper Thomsen wrote about an array of sports for a global audience, including the major world and European soccer tournaments, the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Olympic Games, Ryder Cups, Grand Slam tennis events, Grand Prix auto races and, very rarely, cricket. Thomsen, who graduated from Northwestern with a journalism degree in 1983, was a feature writer for The National Sports Daily during its short, expensive run of 1990-91. His first job was with The Boston Globe, where he covered Doug Flutie's Boston College Eagles and all three of the Celtics-Lakers NBA Finals of the 1980s. Thomsen was a feature writer at SI before taking on the NBA beat fulltime in 2000. With Luis Fernando Llosa and Melissa Segura, Thomsen covered the 2001 scandal of overaged Little League pitcher Danny Almonte and wrote the first SI cover story on Kobe Bryant in 1998. Thomsen lives with his wife and two children near Boston.