Jason Segal Once Beat Former NBA Star in Dunk Contest, Says Former Nets Player

Getty Jason Segel attends the premiere of HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty"

Jason Collins played seven seasons for the New Jersey Nets and one season for the Brooklyn Nets in 2013-14. Collins was the first guest on the ‘Voice of the Nets,’ a new podcast the Nets are teaming up with iHeart Radio to make. The two cover a range of topics in their sixty-five minutes together, including making the NBA Finals in his first two years as a professional and as a Net, playing with Jason Kidd and the leader he was, his experience coming out as the first openly gay NBA player, and more. 

The podcast is hosted by Chris Carrino, the radio voice of the Brooklyn Nets. Carrino’s first year with the Nets was Collins’ rookie year. The two strolled down memory lane of those early days and even beyond that with Collins in high school. 

Jason talked about how his success in high school and making a final four in college took some of the pressure off of him in the NBA Finals. Collins and his twin brother Jarron dominated as members of the Harvard-Westlake High School basketball team in Los Angeles, California. The two seven-foot big men won two California Interscholastic Federation state titles during their four-year careers with a combined record of 123–10. Following high school, the twins went to Stanford University and led their team to a Final Four. 

While the Collins brothers had major success in high school, they may not even be the most famous players on their own team. Their backup at Harvard-Westlake was now award-winning actor Jason Segal, who was nicknamed ‘Dr. Dunk’ as a high schooler. 

Jason Segal Beat NBA Players in California Dunk Contest

In the interview that was released on May 31, Collins talked about his former teammate Dr. Dunk and how he once beat former NBA and college stars in a dunk contest. 

“In high school, he won a dunk contest in a tournament against Tim Thomas and his teammate,” Collins said. “It was against Tim Thomas and his teammate. I think his name was Kevin Freeman. I think he played at UCONN.” 

Collins credited Segal’s win to his theatrics. Even in high school, Segal knew how to entertain, and that talent helped elevate him to win the dunk contest he mentioned. 

“He played in dunk contests against other Division 1 and obviously future NBA athletes, and he won because he knew how to bring that X-factor and that entertainment.” 

Segal, who is famous for his roles in ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall,’ recently appeared in the new series ‘Winning Time‘ about the Showtime Lakers and played one-time Los Angeles Lakers coach Paul Westhead. You won’t see Dr. Dunk in the series, but you will see him coach the Lakers to an NBA Championship. 

Jason Collins

In Jason Collins’ best season for the Nets, he averaged just over 6 points and 6 assists per game. Despite never having incredibly high averages, Collins was an integral part of those Nets teams. He was a player known for doing the right things and one Jason Kidd insisted on having on the floor. 

Collins attributed part of not having the most impressive stat line to not wanting to be noticed, knowing he had a secret, and not wanting to stand out. 

“Part of me trying to do the little things was intentionally not to score,” he said. “because I knew those people who don’t necessarily know the game of basketball will look at who’s the leading scorer, and let’s go talk to that person. And I thought, I don’t really want that media attention because I knew that I was gay, and I didn’t want to bring added attention to myself,” Collins said. “Even early on in my career, I knew that I didn’t want added media attention, but the basketball purists knew I was still making plays to help the team win.”

Collins is now an ambassador of NBA Cares and says he’s been counseling a number of pro athletes who remain closeted.