Jason Collins #98 jersey leads NBAStore sales for the third straight day

Jason Collins, Nick Buchert
Jason Collins led the NBA Store in jersey sales for the third straight day. (AP)
Jason Collins, Nick Buchert
Jason Collins led the NBA Store in jersey sales for the third straight day. (AP)

Brooklyn Nets forward Jason Collins’s #98 jersey led NBAStore.com sales Thursday, an NBA official told The Brooklyn Game.

Thursday marks the third straight day that Collins’s #98 jersey led all NBA players in sales, after Collins’s #98 Nets jersey became available online Tuesday. He also wore #98 last year with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards.

Collins, the first openly gay athlete in one of the four major professional US sports, wore #46 in his debut Sunday night against the Los Angeles Lakers, but chose #98 (as he did last year) in honor of Matthew Shepard, a college student that was tortured and murdered for his sexuality in 1998. Collins met with Shepard’s parents after the team’s win over the Denver Nuggets Thursday night.

It was not immediately known how Collins’s sales in the first three days compared to his career sales, but Collins has never placed in the top 10 in jersey sales in his career prior to Tuesday.