Oklahoma City Thunder, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 53% (8 players with tattoos, 7 without)
The Thunder kept their tattoo percentage even with last year.
Players with tattoos:
Ronnie Brewer
Brewer may lead the league in basketball tattoos, with a ball tattooed on each shoulder and a hoop tattooed on his forearm.
Kevin Durant
During the summer of 2011, Durant had a huge tribute to his home state and his deceased coach tattooed on his back. The design has been referred to as a “business tattoo” since the entire design is hidden by his uniform. An interview with the tattoo artist, Randy Harris, revealed that Durant insisted that the tattoo be hidden in this way: “He went out of his way to tell me to not have the tattoos go out of his jersey because he does look at himself as a role model to kids.”
Derek Fisher
Fisher has a couple of Chinese characters tattooed on his right forearm that translate to “to be faithful in heart, mind, and spirit.”
Perry Jones III
Jones has a tattoo on his left arm of his mother’s name and the text “My Blessing From God.”
Jeremy Lamb
Lamb has “about eight tattoos” which were done by Massachusetts-based artist Ryan Jones.
DeAndre Liggins
Among Liggins’s many tattoos is a portrait of his older brother, Maurice Davis, who was shot and killed at the age of 18.
Kendrick Perkins
Perkins wore #43 on his jersey as a high school student and for his seven and a half seasons with the Celtics. At some point during that time, he had the number 43 tattooed on his shoulder. When he was traded to OKC he switched to #5 as 43 had been retired by the Sonics for Jack Sikma.
Thabo Sefolosha
Sefolosha’s two tattoos read “The Game Chose Me” and “God Guides My Steps.” In an NBA.com profile, he explained the designs: “Those are two things that are very important in my life: basketball and God.”
Players without tattoos:
Nick Collison
Serge Ibaka
Reggie Jackson
Kevin Martin
Daniel Orton
Hasheem Thabeet
Russell Westbrook
Cleveland Cavaliers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 60% (9 players with tattoos, 6 without)
Cleveland’s tattoo percentage went up a touch from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Wayne Ellington
Ellington has a tattoo on the inside of his right arm.
Alonzo Gee
As a child, Gee was required by his mother to memorize bible verses. One from Isaiah 54:17 is tattooed on his right shoulder: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
Daniel Gibson
Gibson is one of the most heavily tattooed players on the Cavs. This year, he added a tattoo to his hand in tribute to his wife, Keyshia Cole.
Kyrie Irving
Irving has several tattoos, which he’s documented via his twitter account. In the beginning of 2010 he added a photo of the tribute to his mother, and towards the end of that year shared a photo of his “hungry & humble” tattoo.
C.J. Miles
Miles recently got a tattoo of the serenity prayer on his arm. The Deseret News reports that the tattoo has become a part of Miles’ pregame ritual:
That Serenity Prayer is so important to Miles, he rubs the tattoo as part of his pregame ritual. It’s his “mental reminder.”
“I’ve got it tatted on my arm for a reason,” he said. “All I can worry about is tonight, try to help my team win a game today. … If you miss shots, so be it. All you can control is the next one.”
Marreese Speights
Speights has several tattoos on his arms, including his mother’s name on his forearm.
Tristan Thompson
Thompson has a couple of tattoos, including the initials “G2S” meaning “Grind To Shine” and the text “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” on his chest. In a 2012 article about tattoos in the league, he shared his thoughts about basketball-related tattoos:
“I wanted to get something that was going to mean something so I won’t regret it when I’m 50,” Thompson said. “A lot of guys get tattoos because maybe they’re drunk one night or they think something is cool at the time. I’d never get a basketball tattoo because basketball only lasts so long. When you stop playing the game, it’s going to look (dumb).”
Dion Waiters
Waiters kept a rookie year diary for Dime Magazine this year. His March entry talks through all of his tattoos to date, and discusses his plans for future designs.
Luke Walton
Better just to leave it in Walton’s own words: “The first one I got here, I got in college, and I got the Grateful Dead skeletons but with basketballs instead of canes and hats.”
Players without tattoos:
Omri Cassia
Kevin Jones
Shaun Livingston
Chris Quinn
Anderson Varejao
Tyler Zeller
Los Angeles Clippers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Clippers had a decrease in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Matt Barnes
In 2008, Barnes founded the Athletes vs. Cancer foundation in memory of his mother, who passed away from lung cancer. In 2010, he added a portrait of his mother, framed by angel’s wings, to his many tattoos. As he explained to Tom Hoffarth of Inside So Cal, “this keeps her around.”
Chauncey Billups
On Billups’s left shoulder is a tattoo of a crowned figure spinning a basketball on his finger. Surrounding the figure are the words “King of the Hill,” a reference to the Denver neighborhood Billups grew up in. In an IGN Sports interview, Billups described it as his favorite tattoo, and explained the significance: “My neighborhood back home is called Park Hill. It’s a hood thing. All of my tats mean something.”
Eric Bledsoe
Bledsoe has tattoos along both arms.
Caron Butler
While on the Wizards, Butler wrote on his blog about tattoos: “Like many other guys in the NBA, I’m big on tattoos too. I may not be a league leader there, though, because I have just four of them. The tat that means the most to me is the one on my left arm. It says “Rest in Peace, Kailo”. That’s my cousin who died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. I grew up with her and although she’s no longer here, I keep her with me.”
Jamal Crawford
Players from Seattle tend to have a lot of tattoos (Nate Robinson, Jason Terry, Terrence Williams) and Crawford is one of the heaviest. On his left shoulder is one of the dreamiest basketball-themed tattoos in the league: against a background of heavenly clouds, a hoop glows, with “Jamal” lettered across the backboard in Olde English.
DeAndre Jordan
Among Jordan’s many tattoos is a portrait of his grandfather on his stomach, added in 2012.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ronny Turiaf
In March of 2011, Turiaf began work on a new tattoo on his left arm: a phoenix rising from ashes.
Maalik Wayns
Wayns has tattoos on both arms. In 2011, he posted to twitter: “God I hope I’m living right and sorry for the tattoos.”
Players without tattoos:
Willie Green
Blake Griffin
Grant Hill
Ryan Hollins
Chris Paul
New Orleans Hornets, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 33% (5 players with tattoos, 10 without)
The Hornets saw their tattoo percentage increase slightly over last year.
Players with tattoos:
Al-Farouq Aminu
In June 2012, Aminu announced via his tumblr account that he plans to add tattoos in the different countries he visits, a sort of commemoration of his travels. He goes on to explain that he’s already begun this process in a way, having gotten tattoos in Atlanta (his hometown), Los Angeles (where he played on the Clippers), and New Orleans (where he currently plays).
Lou Amundson
Amundson’s sole tattoo was described in a 2009 Phoenix New Times article about tattoos on the Suns. That Phoenix team included Shaq, STAT, and Matt Barnes, so the article is mostly given over to their work, but buried in the text is this heartbreaking description of Amundson’s tattoo: “It’s on the right side of his chest and has the words “R.I.P. 34” surrounded by flames. He got the tattoo to commemorate the life of his best friend, Billy Feeney, a teammate at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colorado, and a player for the University of New Mexico Lobos. Feeney hanged himself in August 2003. Amundson doubts he’ll get another tattoo.”
Roger Mason Jr.
In 2007, Mason covered his left arm in a meticulous, richly-symbolic tribute to his father. “There’s references from five different centuries and three or four different genres of art,” his tattoo artist, Grant Cobb explained to the Washington Post. “It was something that kind of needed some work, but it means a lot to him, it was real personal….It was really cool to be able to do something like that for him.” Or, in the words of Mason’s then-teammate, DeShawn Stevenson, “that’s blazin’.” Mason himself feels indifferent to the praise: “”Everybody loves it who sees it, but the meaning is what’s important. That’s why I got it.”
Austin Rivers
Rivers has “M.O.A.M.” tattooed on his left wrist, an acronym for “Man On A Mission”; “G.F.B.” on his right wrist, which stands for “God, Family, Basketball”; and the words “Dedicated” and “Determined” tattooed on the inside of his fingers. In this interview, he talks through each of them and mentions that he likes to keep his arms clean of tattoos.
Lance Thomas
Thomas majored in visual arts while at Duke, using his talents to create posters for each of his teammates. According to an ESPN report, he also designed the tattoo on his right bicep, an elaborate portrait of New Jersey wearing a crown.
Players without tattoos:
Ryan Anderson
Anthony Davis
Eric Gordon
Terrel Harris
Xavier Henry
Robin Lopez
Darius Miller
Brian Roberts
Jason Smith
Greivis Vasquez
Los Angeles Lakers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Lakers increased their tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Steve Blake
On the Lakers blog, while playing the game Would You Rather, Blake revealed that, “I do have one tattoo, but it’s not visible to the public eye.”
Kobe Bryant
Bryant has a few tattoos on his right arm, including his wife’s name, his daughters’ names, a crown, and wings.
Earl Clark
In January of 2013, ESPNLA.com Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin revealed via twitter that Earl Clark has two player uniforms tattooed on his chest: “Iverson’s No. 3 (he was a fan growing up in NJ) and friend Kevin Widemond’s No. 12.”
Chris Duhon
Duhon has the words “My Word My Bond” tattooed on the inside of his right bicep, and “My Boys My Blood” tattooed on the inside of his left bicep.
Devin Ebanks
Ebanks’ high school coach used to say “Make shots, not excuses,” a phrase that resonated deeply enough that two players on the team wanted to make it permanent. “He was going to get the tattoo, but I stole it,” Ebanks said in a Times West Virginian article, referring to a teammate who intended to have the phrase tattooed on his arm. “I got it before he did.”
Andrew Goudelock
Goudelock has tattoos on both shoulders.
Jordan Hill
Among Hill’s many tattoos is the text “Mo Money” on his hands.
Antawn Jamison
Tattooed on Jamison’s left shoulder is a scene where an angel stands beneath a cross, a tribute to his grandmother who died when he was in high school. “Ever since she passed, she’s been my angel,” Jamison explained in a 2008 Washington Post article. “As a kid, I thought she was the only person that actually believed I could be an NBA player.”
Robert Sacre
Among Sacre’s many tattoos are portraits of DMX and Snoop Dogg on his torso.
Metta World Peace
World Peace has the name “Quanisha” tattooed on his bicep, a tribute to his sister who died as an infant.
Players without tattoos:
Pau Gasol
Dwight Howard
Jodie Meeks
Darius Morris
Steve Nash
PROFILIN’: SWISH
PRVSLY | PROFILIN’: BIRDMAN
Some more great storytelling by Up North Trips. This reminds me of that quote from Smith in the New York Times last December where he said, “I actually hated tattoos. I told myself I would never get like this.”
Portland Trail Blazers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 73% (11 players with tattoos, 4 without)
The Trail Blazers showed one of the largest leaps in tattoo percentage this year, with four more tattooed players than last year.
Players with tattoos:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Every one of Aldridge’s tattoos carries religious significance: praying hands, crosses, the text “KEEP GOD FIRST.” When asked about his collection, Aldridge simply replied, “Because I’m a man of strong faith. Strong beliefs.”
Will Barton
The website High School Hopefuls interviewed Barton in his hometown of Baltimore. In the video, he discusses his tattoos, including the text “Where There’s a Will There’s a Way” on his back. As he explains: “My favorite tattoo right there. It’s a clever joint, you know, it’s biblical, it’s got my name in it… I live by that, in the biblical sense, and I live by it, in my name sense. You got me, you’re going to get it done!”
Joel Freeland
Freeland has a tattoo on his right arm.
J.J. Hickson
Hickson’s tattoos run up both arms and across his chest.
Jared Jeffries
Jeffries has a crowned basketball tattooed on his left arm.
Meyers Leonard
Blazers blogger Sarah Hecht shared a great anecdote from the 2012 media day about Leonard’s “Forever Blessed” tattoo:
When the cameraman asked him about the meaning behind the word “Forever” tattooed on his inner arm he leaned back a bit more and showed the word “Blessed” on his right arm. He chuckled a bit then responded, “It means blessed forever.”
Damian Lillard
Lillard has Psalm 37 tattooed on his left arm. He described the personal significance of the text to Sam Amick in a 2012 Sports Illustrated profile: “It’s about not letting anything sway you from what you believe; keep your faith strong.”
Wes Matthews
The recent article in the Oregonian, “Trail Blazers tattoos reveal players’ values” includes an interesting quote from Matthews about his most recent tattoos, the text “Much is earned through God’s blessing” on his right forearm and “Life comes and goes but legacies remain” on his left bicep: “Until I got these, if I wore a shirt, you would never know I had one. But these, they’re not gaudy and they mean something. They’re not an expression of ignorance.”
Eric Maynor
Maynor took advantage of the lockout in 2011 to add a lot of tattoos to his story. When asked by Candace Buckner of the Columbian for the reason behind this burst of new work, Maynor responded with one word: “bored.”
Aleksander (Sasha) Pavlovic
Pavlovic has a tattoo on his right arm.
Nolan Smith
Nolan Smith was nine years old when his father, NBA champion Derek Smith passed away at the age of 34 from a previously undetected heart defect. A 2008 profile published by ESPN during Nolan’s freshman year at Duke described the tattoo tribute the son has for his father:
Years later, when Nolan was 16, he asked Monica if he could get a tattoo. She first refused, then changed her mind when he said he wanted one of his father.
“I said, ‘You can get that, but you have to wear it with honor and integrity,’ ” Monica said. “That’s the only tattoo he’ll ever have.”
The green ink on Nolan Smith’s right biceps reads “Forever watching”. Below that is 4RIP3, and a sketch of his father’s face, followed with “Derek Smith 1961-1996”.
“I have this tattoo on my arm,” Nolan said, “and I remember him at all times.”
Players without tattoos:
Luke Babbitt
Nicholas Batum
Victor Claver
Elliot Williams
Detroit Pistons, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 50% (7 players with tattoos, 7 without)
The tattoo percentage for the Pistons is slightly lower than last year.
Players with tattoos:
Will Bynum
While still in high school, Bynum had the NBA logo tattooed on his left arm.
Andre Drummond
Drummond recently had the names of his sister and mother tattooed on his fingers.
Corey Maggette
Maggette has a tattoo on his right shoulder of a wizard with a basketball and several planets.
Jason Maxiell
Pistons.com has a nice video interview with Maxiell where he discusses his tattoos, focusing primarily on the cross on his shoulder. As he explains:
“My favorite tattoo is on my left shoulder. I got it after my grandmother passed. She was somebody close to me, very special, so once I got to the next level playing basketball I decided to take a whole day and design a tattoo for her and put her on my body for the rest of my life. Being my first tattoo, it was painful at time, then it got numb.”
Greg Monroe
Monroe has a tattoo that occasionally peeks out of the left side of his jersey.
Rodney Stuckey
Stuckey’s right shoulder features an elaborate design with what appears to be a skyline, a river, and a prince holding a basketball.
Charlie Villanueva
Villanueva got his first tattoos this past summer. As he explained to the Detroit Free Press (via Piston Powered), “I waited so long because I didn’t know what I want or exactly what I wanted to do. At the same time, once I did one, I thought it was going to hurt a lot more. I actually liked the pain, which is kind of weird so I was like keep going.”
Players without tattoos:
Jose Calderon
Kim English
Jonas Jerebko
Brandon Knight
Viacheslav Kravtsov
Khris Middleton
Kyle Singler
Orlando Magic, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 43% (6 players with tattoos, 8 without)
With all of their off-season and mid-season moves, the Magic have a significant drop in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Glen Davis
Davis has several tattoos, including a portrait of his mother on his chest. In a 2012 article about the growing trend of NBA players having tattoos removed, Davis sympathized with Mike Bibby’s decision to have some of his work removed: “He’s on the last limb of his career as far as basketball, now he has to go in the world and know to work. And how do you do that? You blend in with the guys who have done it - who come in with a suit and tie with no tattoos.” Davis went on to explain that he would likely do the same thing after retirement.
Al Harrington
Among Harrington’s many tattoos is a great snarling wolf on his chest with the text “Killer Instinct.”
DeQuan Jones
Jones has a collection of tattoos along his left arm.
E’Twaun Moore
Moore has his parents’ names, “Edna” and “Ezell” tattooed on the insides of his biceps.
Jameer Nelson
Nelson has tattoos along both arms.
Kyle O’Quinn
O’Quinn is one of the most heavily tattooed players on the Magic this season. Among his designs is a tattoo reading “Shoot for the moon” on his right arm.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Maurice Harkless
Tobias Harris
Doron Lamb
Andrew Nicholson
Hedo Turkoglu
Beno Udrih
Nikola Vucevic
Indiana Pacers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 without)
The Pacers saw their tattoo percentage drop from last year.
Players with tattoos:
D.J. Augustin
On Augustin’s back is a touching tribute to his deceased grandmother in which pair of hands hold a basketball beside the text “thanks for the rock” to memorialize his first ball, which was purchased by his grandmother for his fifth birthday. The design is pretty awe-inspiring.
Paul George
George added two new tattoos last summer. As he described to ESPN: “I got two tattoos: one of a lion on one hand, and one of a tiger on the other hand. They are my favorite animals, and they represent who I feel I am on the court. They are silent, but they are beasts.”
Gerald Green
Green has a tattoo representing his hometown with a city skyline and the word “Houston” on his forearm.
George Hill
In May of 2011, Hill posted a photo of a new tattoo on his twitter page. The design features the state of Indiana with a star emerging from Hill’s birthplace, Indianapolis. In June of 2011, Hill was traded from the Spurs to the Pacers. Homecoming!
Lance Stephenson
Playing in a summer league at the age of 15, Stephenson so impressed Bobbito Garcia that Bobbito gave him the nickname “Born Ready,” citing the young guard’s ability to go up against older players, even NBA players. Stephenson had the nickname tattooed on his shoulder alongside the skyline of Coney Island, where he grew up.
David West
Among West’s several tattoos are the words “Carpe Diem” tattooed on the backs of his calves.
Players without tattoos:
Danny Granger
Ben Hansbrough
Tyler Hansbrough
Roy Hibbert
Orlando Johnson
Ian Mahinmi
Jeff Pendergraph
Miles Plumlee
Sam Young
Oklahoma City Thunder, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 53% (8 players with tattoos, 7 without)
The Thunder kept their tattoo percentage even with last year.
Players with tattoos:
Ronnie Brewer
Brewer may lead the league in basketball tattoos, with a ball tattooed on each shoulder and a hoop tattooed on his forearm.
Kevin Durant
During the summer of 2011, Durant had a huge tribute to his home state and his deceased coach tattooed on his back. The design has been referred to as a “business tattoo” since the entire design is hidden by his uniform. An interview with the tattoo artist, Randy Harris, revealed that Durant insisted that the tattoo be hidden in this way: “He went out of his way to tell me to not have the tattoos go out of his jersey because he does look at himself as a role model to kids.”
Derek Fisher
Fisher has a couple of Chinese characters tattooed on his right forearm that translate to “to be faithful in heart, mind, and spirit.”
Perry Jones III
Jones has a tattoo on his left arm of his mother’s name and the text “My Blessing From God.”
Jeremy Lamb
Lamb has “about eight tattoos” which were done by Massachusetts-based artist Ryan Jones.
DeAndre Liggins
Among Liggins’s many tattoos is a portrait of his older brother, Maurice Davis, who was shot and killed at the age of 18.
Kendrick Perkins
Perkins wore #43 on his jersey as a high school student and for his seven and a half seasons with the Celtics. At some point during that time, he had the number 43 tattooed on his shoulder. When he was traded to OKC he switched to #5 as 43 had been retired by the Sonics for Jack Sikma.
Thabo Sefolosha
Sefolosha’s two tattoos read “The Game Chose Me” and “God Guides My Steps.” In an NBA.com profile, he explained the designs: “Those are two things that are very important in my life: basketball and God.”
Players without tattoos:
Nick Collison
Serge Ibaka
Reggie Jackson
Kevin Martin
Daniel Orton
Hasheem Thabeet
Russell Westbrook
Cleveland Cavaliers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 60% (9 players with tattoos, 6 without)
Cleveland’s tattoo percentage went up a touch from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Wayne Ellington
Ellington has a tattoo on the inside of his right arm.
Alonzo Gee
As a child, Gee was required by his mother to memorize bible verses. One from Isaiah 54:17 is tattooed on his right shoulder: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.”
Daniel Gibson
Gibson is one of the most heavily tattooed players on the Cavs. This year, he added a tattoo to his hand in tribute to his wife, Keyshia Cole.
Kyrie Irving
Irving has several tattoos, which he’s documented via his twitter account. In the beginning of 2010 he added a photo of the tribute to his mother, and towards the end of that year shared a photo of his “hungry & humble” tattoo.
C.J. Miles
Miles recently got a tattoo of the serenity prayer on his arm. The Deseret News reports that the tattoo has become a part of Miles’ pregame ritual:
That Serenity Prayer is so important to Miles, he rubs the tattoo as part of his pregame ritual. It’s his “mental reminder.”
“I’ve got it tatted on my arm for a reason,” he said. “All I can worry about is tonight, try to help my team win a game today. … If you miss shots, so be it. All you can control is the next one.”
Marreese Speights
Speights has several tattoos on his arms, including his mother’s name on his forearm.
Tristan Thompson
Thompson has a couple of tattoos, including the initials “G2S” meaning “Grind To Shine” and the text “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” on his chest. In a 2012 article about tattoos in the league, he shared his thoughts about basketball-related tattoos:
“I wanted to get something that was going to mean something so I won’t regret it when I’m 50,” Thompson said. “A lot of guys get tattoos because maybe they’re drunk one night or they think something is cool at the time. I’d never get a basketball tattoo because basketball only lasts so long. When you stop playing the game, it’s going to look (dumb).”
Dion Waiters
Waiters kept a rookie year diary for Dime Magazine this year. His March entry talks through all of his tattoos to date, and discusses his plans for future designs.
Luke Walton
Better just to leave it in Walton’s own words: “The first one I got here, I got in college, and I got the Grateful Dead skeletons but with basketballs instead of canes and hats.”
Players without tattoos:
Omri Cassia
Kevin Jones
Shaun Livingston
Chris Quinn
Anderson Varejao
Tyler Zeller
Los Angeles Clippers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Clippers had a decrease in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Matt Barnes
In 2008, Barnes founded the Athletes vs. Cancer foundation in memory of his mother, who passed away from lung cancer. In 2010, he added a portrait of his mother, framed by angel’s wings, to his many tattoos. As he explained to Tom Hoffarth of Inside So Cal, “this keeps her around.”
Chauncey Billups
On Billups’s left shoulder is a tattoo of a crowned figure spinning a basketball on his finger. Surrounding the figure are the words “King of the Hill,” a reference to the Denver neighborhood Billups grew up in. In an IGN Sports interview, Billups described it as his favorite tattoo, and explained the significance: “My neighborhood back home is called Park Hill. It’s a hood thing. All of my tats mean something.”
Eric Bledsoe
Bledsoe has tattoos along both arms.
Caron Butler
While on the Wizards, Butler wrote on his blog about tattoos: “Like many other guys in the NBA, I’m big on tattoos too. I may not be a league leader there, though, because I have just four of them. The tat that means the most to me is the one on my left arm. It says “Rest in Peace, Kailo”. That’s my cousin who died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. I grew up with her and although she’s no longer here, I keep her with me.”
Jamal Crawford
Players from Seattle tend to have a lot of tattoos (Nate Robinson, Jason Terry, Terrence Williams) and Crawford is one of the heaviest. On his left shoulder is one of the dreamiest basketball-themed tattoos in the league: against a background of heavenly clouds, a hoop glows, with “Jamal” lettered across the backboard in Olde English.
DeAndre Jordan
Among Jordan’s many tattoos is a portrait of his grandfather on his stomach, added in 2012.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ronny Turiaf
In March of 2011, Turiaf began work on a new tattoo on his left arm: a phoenix rising from ashes.
Maalik Wayns
Wayns has tattoos on both arms. In 2011, he posted to twitter: “God I hope I’m living right and sorry for the tattoos.”
Players without tattoos:
Willie Green
Blake Griffin
Grant Hill
Ryan Hollins
Chris Paul
New Orleans Hornets, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 33% (5 players with tattoos, 10 without)
The Hornets saw their tattoo percentage increase slightly over last year.
Players with tattoos:
Al-Farouq Aminu
In June 2012, Aminu announced via his tumblr account that he plans to add tattoos in the different countries he visits, a sort of commemoration of his travels. He goes on to explain that he’s already begun this process in a way, having gotten tattoos in Atlanta (his hometown), Los Angeles (where he played on the Clippers), and New Orleans (where he currently plays).
Lou Amundson
Amundson’s sole tattoo was described in a 2009 Phoenix New Times article about tattoos on the Suns. That Phoenix team included Shaq, STAT, and Matt Barnes, so the article is mostly given over to their work, but buried in the text is this heartbreaking description of Amundson’s tattoo: “It’s on the right side of his chest and has the words “R.I.P. 34” surrounded by flames. He got the tattoo to commemorate the life of his best friend, Billy Feeney, a teammate at Monarch High School in Louisville, Colorado, and a player for the University of New Mexico Lobos. Feeney hanged himself in August 2003. Amundson doubts he’ll get another tattoo.”
Roger Mason Jr.
In 2007, Mason covered his left arm in a meticulous, richly-symbolic tribute to his father. “There’s references from five different centuries and three or four different genres of art,” his tattoo artist, Grant Cobb explained to the Washington Post. “It was something that kind of needed some work, but it means a lot to him, it was real personal….It was really cool to be able to do something like that for him.” Or, in the words of Mason’s then-teammate, DeShawn Stevenson, “that’s blazin’.” Mason himself feels indifferent to the praise: “”Everybody loves it who sees it, but the meaning is what’s important. That’s why I got it.”
Austin Rivers
Rivers has “M.O.A.M.” tattooed on his left wrist, an acronym for “Man On A Mission”; “G.F.B.” on his right wrist, which stands for “God, Family, Basketball”; and the words “Dedicated” and “Determined” tattooed on the inside of his fingers. In this interview, he talks through each of them and mentions that he likes to keep his arms clean of tattoos.
Lance Thomas
Thomas majored in visual arts while at Duke, using his talents to create posters for each of his teammates. According to an ESPN report, he also designed the tattoo on his right bicep, an elaborate portrait of New Jersey wearing a crown.
Players without tattoos:
Ryan Anderson
Anthony Davis
Eric Gordon
Terrel Harris
Xavier Henry
Robin Lopez
Darius Miller
Brian Roberts
Jason Smith
Greivis Vasquez
Los Angeles Lakers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Lakers increased their tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Steve Blake
On the Lakers blog, while playing the game Would You Rather, Blake revealed that, “I do have one tattoo, but it’s not visible to the public eye.”
Kobe Bryant
Bryant has a few tattoos on his right arm, including his wife’s name, his daughters’ names, a crown, and wings.
Earl Clark
In January of 2013, ESPNLA.com Lakers beat writer Dave McMenamin revealed via twitter that Earl Clark has two player uniforms tattooed on his chest: “Iverson’s No. 3 (he was a fan growing up in NJ) and friend Kevin Widemond’s No. 12.”
Chris Duhon
Duhon has the words “My Word My Bond” tattooed on the inside of his right bicep, and “My Boys My Blood” tattooed on the inside of his left bicep.
Devin Ebanks
Ebanks’ high school coach used to say “Make shots, not excuses,” a phrase that resonated deeply enough that two players on the team wanted to make it permanent. “He was going to get the tattoo, but I stole it,” Ebanks said in a Times West Virginian article, referring to a teammate who intended to have the phrase tattooed on his arm. “I got it before he did.”
Andrew Goudelock
Goudelock has tattoos on both shoulders.
Jordan Hill
Among Hill’s many tattoos is the text “Mo Money” on his hands.
Antawn Jamison
Tattooed on Jamison’s left shoulder is a scene where an angel stands beneath a cross, a tribute to his grandmother who died when he was in high school. “Ever since she passed, she’s been my angel,” Jamison explained in a 2008 Washington Post article. “As a kid, I thought she was the only person that actually believed I could be an NBA player.”
Robert Sacre
Among Sacre’s many tattoos are portraits of DMX and Snoop Dogg on his torso.
Metta World Peace
World Peace has the name “Quanisha” tattooed on his bicep, a tribute to his sister who died as an infant.
Players without tattoos:
Pau Gasol
Dwight Howard
Jodie Meeks
Darius Morris
Steve Nash
PROFILIN’: SWISH
PRVSLY | PROFILIN’: BIRDMAN
Some more great storytelling by Up North Trips. This reminds me of that quote from Smith in the New York Times last December where he said, “I actually hated tattoos. I told myself I would never get like this.”
Portland Trail Blazers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 73% (11 players with tattoos, 4 without)
The Trail Blazers showed one of the largest leaps in tattoo percentage this year, with four more tattooed players than last year.
Players with tattoos:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Every one of Aldridge’s tattoos carries religious significance: praying hands, crosses, the text “KEEP GOD FIRST.” When asked about his collection, Aldridge simply replied, “Because I’m a man of strong faith. Strong beliefs.”
Will Barton
The website High School Hopefuls interviewed Barton in his hometown of Baltimore. In the video, he discusses his tattoos, including the text “Where There’s a Will There’s a Way” on his back. As he explains: “My favorite tattoo right there. It’s a clever joint, you know, it’s biblical, it’s got my name in it… I live by that, in the biblical sense, and I live by it, in my name sense. You got me, you’re going to get it done!”
Joel Freeland
Freeland has a tattoo on his right arm.
J.J. Hickson
Hickson’s tattoos run up both arms and across his chest.
Jared Jeffries
Jeffries has a crowned basketball tattooed on his left arm.
Meyers Leonard
Blazers blogger Sarah Hecht shared a great anecdote from the 2012 media day about Leonard’s “Forever Blessed” tattoo:
When the cameraman asked him about the meaning behind the word “Forever” tattooed on his inner arm he leaned back a bit more and showed the word “Blessed” on his right arm. He chuckled a bit then responded, “It means blessed forever.”
Damian Lillard
Lillard has Psalm 37 tattooed on his left arm. He described the personal significance of the text to Sam Amick in a 2012 Sports Illustrated profile: “It’s about not letting anything sway you from what you believe; keep your faith strong.”
Wes Matthews
The recent article in the Oregonian, “Trail Blazers tattoos reveal players’ values” includes an interesting quote from Matthews about his most recent tattoos, the text “Much is earned through God’s blessing” on his right forearm and “Life comes and goes but legacies remain” on his left bicep: “Until I got these, if I wore a shirt, you would never know I had one. But these, they’re not gaudy and they mean something. They’re not an expression of ignorance.”
Eric Maynor
Maynor took advantage of the lockout in 2011 to add a lot of tattoos to his story. When asked by Candace Buckner of the Columbian for the reason behind this burst of new work, Maynor responded with one word: “bored.”
Aleksander (Sasha) Pavlovic
Pavlovic has a tattoo on his right arm.
Nolan Smith
Nolan Smith was nine years old when his father, NBA champion Derek Smith passed away at the age of 34 from a previously undetected heart defect. A 2008 profile published by ESPN during Nolan’s freshman year at Duke described the tattoo tribute the son has for his father:
Years later, when Nolan was 16, he asked Monica if he could get a tattoo. She first refused, then changed her mind when he said he wanted one of his father.
“I said, ‘You can get that, but you have to wear it with honor and integrity,’ ” Monica said. “That’s the only tattoo he’ll ever have.”
The green ink on Nolan Smith’s right biceps reads “Forever watching”. Below that is 4RIP3, and a sketch of his father’s face, followed with “Derek Smith 1961-1996”.
“I have this tattoo on my arm,” Nolan said, “and I remember him at all times.”
Players without tattoos:
Luke Babbitt
Nicholas Batum
Victor Claver
Elliot Williams
Detroit Pistons, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 50% (7 players with tattoos, 7 without)
The tattoo percentage for the Pistons is slightly lower than last year.
Players with tattoos:
Will Bynum
While still in high school, Bynum had the NBA logo tattooed on his left arm.
Andre Drummond
Drummond recently had the names of his sister and mother tattooed on his fingers.
Corey Maggette
Maggette has a tattoo on his right shoulder of a wizard with a basketball and several planets.
Jason Maxiell
Pistons.com has a nice video interview with Maxiell where he discusses his tattoos, focusing primarily on the cross on his shoulder. As he explains:
“My favorite tattoo is on my left shoulder. I got it after my grandmother passed. She was somebody close to me, very special, so once I got to the next level playing basketball I decided to take a whole day and design a tattoo for her and put her on my body for the rest of my life. Being my first tattoo, it was painful at time, then it got numb.”
Greg Monroe
Monroe has a tattoo that occasionally peeks out of the left side of his jersey.
Rodney Stuckey
Stuckey’s right shoulder features an elaborate design with what appears to be a skyline, a river, and a prince holding a basketball.
Charlie Villanueva
Villanueva got his first tattoos this past summer. As he explained to the Detroit Free Press (via Piston Powered), “I waited so long because I didn’t know what I want or exactly what I wanted to do. At the same time, once I did one, I thought it was going to hurt a lot more. I actually liked the pain, which is kind of weird so I was like keep going.”
Players without tattoos:
Jose Calderon
Kim English
Jonas Jerebko
Brandon Knight
Viacheslav Kravtsov
Khris Middleton
Kyle Singler
Orlando Magic, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 43% (6 players with tattoos, 8 without)
With all of their off-season and mid-season moves, the Magic have a significant drop in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Glen Davis
Davis has several tattoos, including a portrait of his mother on his chest. In a 2012 article about the growing trend of NBA players having tattoos removed, Davis sympathized with Mike Bibby’s decision to have some of his work removed: “He’s on the last limb of his career as far as basketball, now he has to go in the world and know to work. And how do you do that? You blend in with the guys who have done it - who come in with a suit and tie with no tattoos.” Davis went on to explain that he would likely do the same thing after retirement.
Al Harrington
Among Harrington’s many tattoos is a great snarling wolf on his chest with the text “Killer Instinct.”
DeQuan Jones
Jones has a collection of tattoos along his left arm.
E’Twaun Moore
Moore has his parents’ names, “Edna” and “Ezell” tattooed on the insides of his biceps.
Jameer Nelson
Nelson has tattoos along both arms.
Kyle O’Quinn
O’Quinn is one of the most heavily tattooed players on the Magic this season. Among his designs is a tattoo reading “Shoot for the moon” on his right arm.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Maurice Harkless
Tobias Harris
Doron Lamb
Andrew Nicholson
Hedo Turkoglu
Beno Udrih
Nikola Vucevic
Indiana Pacers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 without)
The Pacers saw their tattoo percentage drop from last year.
Players with tattoos:
D.J. Augustin
On Augustin’s back is a touching tribute to his deceased grandmother in which pair of hands hold a basketball beside the text “thanks for the rock” to memorialize his first ball, which was purchased by his grandmother for his fifth birthday. The design is pretty awe-inspiring.
Paul George
George added two new tattoos last summer. As he described to ESPN: “I got two tattoos: one of a lion on one hand, and one of a tiger on the other hand. They are my favorite animals, and they represent who I feel I am on the court. They are silent, but they are beasts.”
Gerald Green
Green has a tattoo representing his hometown with a city skyline and the word “Houston” on his forearm.
George Hill
In May of 2011, Hill posted a photo of a new tattoo on his twitter page. The design features the state of Indiana with a star emerging from Hill’s birthplace, Indianapolis. In June of 2011, Hill was traded from the Spurs to the Pacers. Homecoming!
Lance Stephenson
Playing in a summer league at the age of 15, Stephenson so impressed Bobbito Garcia that Bobbito gave him the nickname “Born Ready,” citing the young guard’s ability to go up against older players, even NBA players. Stephenson had the nickname tattooed on his shoulder alongside the skyline of Coney Island, where he grew up.
David West
Among West’s several tattoos are the words “Carpe Diem” tattooed on the backs of his calves.
Players without tattoos:
Danny Granger
Ben Hansbrough
Tyler Hansbrough
Roy Hibbert
Orlando Johnson
Ian Mahinmi
Jeff Pendergraph
Miles Plumlee
Sam Young
