The president of the Golden State Warriors, Rick Welts, has supported NFL Draft prospect Michael Sam for publicly revealing his sexual orientation on Sunday.

The 24-year-old, who completed his college football career for the Missouri Tigers in December, openly came out as gay in an interview with ESPN.

Welts himself revealed that he is gay in May 2011 while he was with the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first NBA executive to do so.

"I think we're still in the midst of it being a really big story," The AP quotes him as saying. "And if you could ever pick somebody to play this part, I think the right guy is going to play it.

"Just watching him the last few days and seeing the confidence and how strongly he felt about what he decided to do, I think the NFL combine got a lot more interesting and I think the Draft did too.

"It's going to be fascinating to watch as he walks through this, but I really do think he's the right guy for this."

Should Sam be drafted into the NFL in May, then he will become the first openly gay player in the history of the league.