Charlotte Bobcats 2010-2011

Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 without)

Did you know that Michael Jordan has a brand? It’s hard to make out in photos, but he has a Greek letter burned into his chest to represent his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi. In my imagination, Jordan is weird and competitive enough that this is an issue for players on the Bobcats, who have less tattooed players than most of the league. Even their tattooed players feel toned down compared to other teams, with the obvious exceptions of Stephen Jackson and Tyrus Thomas.



Players with tattoos:

D.J. Augustin 

Has a touching tribute to his deceased grandmother tattooed on his back. A 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.

Kwame Brown
  
Has a tattoo
below his right elbow.

Dante Cunningham  

As of his senior year of college (2009), Cunningham has nine tattoos, including one that reads “TROUBLE” on his left arm.

Stephen Jackson
 
Proud owner of one of the most hectic tattoos in the league: the standard praying hands on his stomach, but in this design the hands cradle an automatic handgun. When asked about the tattoo’s significance, Jackson explained the design was literal: “I pray I never have to use it again.”

Dominic McGuire 

It’s tough to get a good look at McGuire’s open hands tattoo on his right bicep, but it looks incredible.

Joel Przybilla

Among his several tattoos
are a basketball player on his right bicep accompanied by the text “Not in my house” and his wife’s name in a heart with roses.

Tyrus Thomas
Easily the most heavily tattooed players on the Bobcats, Thomas admits to disliking his first tattoo: “The name was just like the first one. I think a lot of people usually get their name as the first one. If I could do it over I wouldn’t. You know, I know my name.”

Players without tattoos:

Matt Carroll

Boris Diaw   

DeSagana Diop   

Gerald Henderson    

Shaun Livingston     

Eduardo Najera   

Garrett Temple

D.J. White    



NBA tattoos


2012-13 NBA overall tattoo percentage: 56%
250 players with tattoos, 196 without [details]


2011-12 NBA overall tattoo percentage: 55% [details]
2010-11 NBA overall tattoo percentage: 53% [details]

A player-by-player, team-by-team guide to tattoos in the NBA. It is not an attempt to document every tattoo of every player–rather it is an attempt to provide a series of tools for sorting overall tattoo statistics in the NBA alongside glimpses into tattoo trends. Click on any team name below for player details of that team:

Hawks - Celtics - Nets - Bobcats - Bulls - Cavaliers
Mavericks - Nuggets - Pistons - Warriors - Rockets - Pacers
Clippers - Lakers - Grizzlies - Heat - Bucks - Timberwolves
Hornets - Knicks - Thunder - Magic - Sixers - Suns
Trail Blazers - Kings - Spurs - Raptors - Jazz - Wizards

Click HERE for a complete list of NBA players discussed on this blog.

Disclaimer: This info is collected completely anecdotally, mostly by watching games, but also through study of photos, interviews, and player profiles. It’s very likely that tattoos have gone unobserved or remain hidden, especially on non-superstar players. Every effort has been made to present the best possible information, but statistics should not be considered definitive. Please use Ask Me to share any relevant information.