21 years ago: Remembering Jason Collier, the Hawks center behind the G League’s sportsmanship trophy

Twenty-one years ago today, the Atlanta Hawks lost a teammate a week before training camp could turn into a season. On October 15, 2005, Jason Collier died suddenly in Cumming, Georgia. He was 28. The seven-foot center had spent five seasons fighting for a place in the NBA, from the Houston Rockets’ bench to the developmental league and back, and had finally carved out a role in Atlanta. His name still hangs on a trophy handed out every spring, and that is the part of his story most fans never connect to the man.

An autopsy later found that Collier died from a sudden heart rhythm disturbance caused by an abnormally enlarged heart. Georgia’s chief medical examiner, Kris Sperry, said the organ was about one and a half times the size it should have been, beyond accepted limits even for a man of his size. Collier had complained of shortness of breath before he lost consciousness. Emergency medical technicians treated him, but he died on the way to the hospital.

From Springfield to the lottery’s edge

Collier grew up in Springfield, Ohio, and led Catholic Central High School to the 1996 Ohio state championship. That season he was named Ohio Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American. He started college at Indiana, transferred to Georgia Tech and earned second-team All-ACC honors in both 1999 and 2000.

The Milwaukee Bucks drafted him 15th overall in 2000, then traded him on draft night to Houston, with a 2001 first-round pick, for Joel Przybilla. Collier made his NBA debut on October 31, 2000. Minutes were scarce in Houston. Across three seasons he played 61 games for the Rockets, never averaging more than 4.2 points.

The comeback that ran through Fayetteville

Instead of drifting overseas, Collier went to the NBA Development League in 2003-04 and played for the Fayetteville Patriots. He was named to the All-NBDL First Team. On March 8, 2004, Atlanta signed him to a 10-day contract and started him that same night against Cleveland. He scored 16 points.

Four days later he had the best game of his NBA life: 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting off the bench in a 138-124 win over Washington. Two nights after that he posted 21 points and 11 rebounds at Toronto. A second 10-day deal followed, then a contract for the rest of the season. In 20 games for the Hawks that spring he started 16 and averaged 11.3 points and 5.6 rebounds, numbers far beyond anything he had shown in Houston.

• Born: September 8, 1977, Springfield, Ohio.
• Draft: No. 15 pick by Milwaukee in 2000; traded the same night to Houston for Joel Przybilla.
• Development league: All-NBDL First Team with the Fayetteville Patriots, 2004.
• Career high: 22 points (7-of-8 FG) vs. Washington, March 12, 2004 — four days after signing with Atlanta.
• NBA career: 151 games, 65 starts, 5.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game for Houston and Atlanta.
• Died: October 15, 2005, age 28, Cumming, Georgia.

The 2004-05 season was his first full year in Atlanta. He appeared in 70 games and started 44 for a rebuilding team. His last NBA game came on April 20, 2005, the Hawks’ season finale against Philadelphia, when he started at center and played nine minutes. Six months later, as the club prepared for another season, he was gone.

The trophy with his name on it

The Hawks wore black shoulder patches on their uniforms to honor him. The developmental league went further. Starting in 2005-06 it named its sportsmanship award after Collier, the player who had used that league to get back to the NBA. Today it is the Jason Collier Trophy for the NBA G League Sportsmanship Award, given to the player who best represents the ideals of character and conduct on the court and in the community.

The first winner was Ime Udoka of the Fort Worth Flyers, who later became an NBA head coach. Ron Howard of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants won it in back-to-back seasons, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Andre Ingram won it with the Utah Flash in 2009-10 and again with the South Bay Lakers in 2021-22, years before and after his own famous first call-up. Galen Robinson Jr. won it with the Austin Spurs in 2020-21 and with the Birmingham Squadron in 2024-25. The most recent recipient, for 2025-26, is Max Abmas of the Salt Lake City Stars.

That list is the quiet legacy of a player whose NBA résumé fits on an index card. Collier was never a star. What made his story stick was the route: a lottery-adjacent pick who lost his place, went down a level, earned his way back and became the kind of teammate a league decided to name an honor after. Every G League season since 2005-06 has ended with someone receiving a trophy that carries his name.