CLEVELAND — John Amaechi made history with the Cavaliers in 1995. Now he's doing it again in a completely different arena.
Amaechi, who was the first undrafted rookie to start in his first NBA game, is telling the world he is gay in a book due out this month. He is believed to be the first NBA player, active or retired, to come out of the closet.
There were rumors for years that Amaechi was gay, even in NBA circles. According to Outsports.com, which has an advance copy of the book, "The Man in the Middle," Amaechi was living an active homosexual lifestyle while playing for the Utah Jazz in 2000-02. He wrote that he visited gay establishments at home and on the road, and former teammate Greg Ostertag once asked him about it.
"By the end of my second Utah season, I was practically daring reporters to take the bait and out me," he wrote, according to the Web site. "But it never happened. My sexuality, I felt, had become an open secret, which was fine by me. I'd left enough open to interpretation that suspicions were gaining momentum."
But Cavs forward Donyell Marshall, who played with Amaechi on the Jazz in 2001-02, said it wasn't common knowledge in the locker room.
"I don't think the team knew at the time. I didn't know," Marshall said. "I was surprised when I saw that Greg had asked him the question. When I talked with him, it was always about his hometown. He's a very intelligent guy."
A native of England, the 6-foot-10 Amaechi played one year at St. John's High School in Toledo before attending Vanderbilt and Penn State. He played 28 games for the Cavs in the 1995-96 season, averaging 2.8 points.
He then went to Europe for three years, returned and played two years with the Orlando Magic and two more with the Jazz.
The book will no doubt reopen questions about whether an NBA player could come out while still playing. Such issues were raised two years ago, when WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes announced she was a lesbian.
LeBron James said that if a player who was already in the league were to come out, it might lead to trust issues with teammates.
"We spend so much time together, we're like family," James said. "You take showers together, you're on the bus, you talk about things. With teammates, you have to be trustworthy. If you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, you're not trustworthy. It's the locker room code; it's a trust factor."
The reaction so far has shown Marshall that the time for an openly gay player simply might not have arrived.
"I think it would be hard to be an active player to be out; it's a sensitive issue," Marshall said.
"Even now, with him coming out, people who know that I played with him, they're already saying things just to me. I think a lot of people are naive to the situation."