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
Denver Nuggets, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
Denver’s massive trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York changed them from the team with the most tattoos in the league to the seventh place team. Since last year, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and Wilson Chandler have all left the team, further reducing their percentages. Curious to see if this changes their reputation at all….
Players with tattoos:
Chris Andersen
The Birdman’s tattoos are fairly well documented and have brought him a lot of attention, even from non-NBA fans. In advance of a 2010 profile in Dime, the magazine created a video with images of Andersen’s tattoos and some very perplexing quotes.
Wilson Chandler
Chandler has so many tattoos and so many great tattoos it’s difficult to know where to start. I like this quote:
Chandler (pointing to a design on his neck): It’s an ace of spades, on fire
Interviewer: okay, why’s that?
Chandler: Just, you know, it’s the highest card out of the deck
Rudy Fernandez
FY! Rudy Fernandez posted a nice description of Fernandez’s wrist tattoo.
Danilo Gallinari
Well hidden by his jersey, Gallinari has a massive Armani logo tattooed on his ribs, borne of a connection deeper than his Italian nationality: “Armani Jeans is one of my sponsors—this tattoo is the Armani Jeans Milano team’s logo. When I go in a store, I take all the clothes I want. Mr. Armani and I are close. He came to town for Christmas, and we went to dinner with my parents.”
Jordan Hamilton
Hamilton has a tattoo on his right wrist.
Al Harrington
On Harrington’s back is a tattoo of himself begin lifted by an angel. In the design, Harrington is shirtless, displaying the tattoos on his chest and stomach. I like thinking that when he gets new tattoos on his front he has to have them added to the one on his back.
Ty Lawson
Certified Customs of Denver, Colorado posted photos on their blog of the work Lawson had done there in 2010.
JaVale McGee
Last summer McGee participated in PEAK’s lockout diaries video series (Dorell Wright and Shane Battier also contributed videos). For one video, McGee talks through his tattoos—tributes to his mother, grandmother, place of birth, and basketball—all of which are located on his chest, stomach, and back. He explains that there are more to come, but “none on my arms or anything. I feel like that’s unprofessional, I feel like you should have tats that you can hide. That’s why I don’t have any on my arms or on my neck or anything.” The “AMEN” speech bubble coming off of his “TRULY BLESSED” tattoo is pretty special.
Andre Miller
In April of 2011, during Miller’s final season with the Blazers, the Oregonian printed a long profile which described Miller’s rarely-seen back tattoo:
Today, Miller carries a large tattoo on his back, with the outline of California and old English-style lettering that reads “E. Watts.” He is private revealing the roots of the tattoo, saying only that he lost a bet growing up.
Julyan Stone
The NBA website featured a short profile of this undrafted rookie the day before the 2011-12 season began which documented Stone’s commitment to his family:
Though he will be away from his family on Christmas, they are never far from his thoughts. He has tattoos on his arms reading “Stone” and “Cooley,” (his mother’s maiden name) and he talks to his five nieces and nephews nearly every day.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Corey Brewer
Kenneth Faried
Kostas Koufos
Timofey Mozgov
Denver Nuggets 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 64% (9 players with tattoos, 5 without)
Denver has a reputation for being the most tattooed team in the league, and up until their massive mid-season trade, they did. The February shake-up that sent Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman, and Shelden Williams to New York and brought Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Ray Felton, Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos to Denver traded five tattooed players for two. Before the trade, the Nuggets had 12 players with tattoos and two without, barely edging out the Lakers and Knicks for most tattoos. After the trade, Denver doesn’t even stand in the top five (there are six teams with more tattooed players).
Regardless of numbers, it’s interesting to consider the impression of the Nuggets as most tattooed, which may go hand-in-hand with their other reputation, the one that earned them the nickname the Denver Thuggets. Obviously there’s a tone set by Kenyon Martin’s trash talk and J.R. Smith’s all-highlights no-rudiments bravado. But thinking about the Nuggets’ tattoos you also have to consider Al Harrington’s unpredictability and Chris Andersen’s sideshow ridiculousness. It’s nice to think that tattoos may exit the endless conversation lamenting the lack of fundamentals, the prevalence of dunking, the lost art of passing and just become an occasionally-exciting side note to the game. Bill Simmons seems to think so: “Because of their phenomenal collection of tattoos, no team has ever been more fascinating to watch in HD — which makes it doubly funny that they play in Denver, the one city in which people would absolutely get stoned and watch a basketball game just to marvel at tattoos in HD for 150 minutes. I’m telling you, there is MAJOR karma going on here.”
—
Players with tattoos:
Chris Andersen
The Birdman’s transition from anonymous crewcut dude to mohawked warrior is well documented, and he’s created enough of an identity through his tattoos that people who couldn’t care less about basketball know all about this second squad forward.
Wilson Chandler
I have a real soft spot for Chandler stemming from his heart and his bravery during the Isiah Thomas dark years for the Knicks. He always had some kind of surprise for the crowd, even if sometimes it was just a new angle on one of his tattoos. Apparently other Knicks fans agreed, and when Chandler had a blog on the Knicks site, questions about his tattoos vastly outnumbered any others, and he dedicated an entire blog entry to discussing them. One of the weirder ones in the list, even though his nonchalance makes it sound pretty casual, is his eyeball tattoo: “On my hand I have a picture of an eye with the words ‘All is Well’ underneath. It’s supposed to be an angels eye that watches over me, protects me and lets me know that all is well.” That’s a lot to ask of a tattoo. Chandler deserves it.
Also notable: the full-back portrait of X-Men villain Juggernaut.
Melvin Ely
Has tattoos on both shoulders, including a writhing dragon on his right side.
Gary Forbes
At the beginning of 2009, Forbes was an undrafted UMass product with a handful of tattoos on his arms. By the end of 2010, he had notched his first start in an NBA game, and had his previously isolated designs woven together into two full sleeves, heavy on the stars.
Danilo Gallinari
Well hidden by his jersey, Gallinari has a massive Armani logo tattooed on his ribs, borne of a connection deeper than his Italian nationality: “Armani Jeans is one of my sponsors—this tattoo is the Armani Jeans Milano team’s logo. When I go in a store, I take all the clothes I want. Mr. Armani and I are close. He came to town for Christmas, and we went to dinner with my parents.”
Al Harrington
Among Harrington’s many tattoos is a great snarling wolf over his heart with the words “Killer Instinct.” Bonus humor points: the “veni vidi vici” tattoo on his collar is often misread as saying something about weed.
Ty Lawson
After joining the Nuggets, Lawson got a full sleeve tattooed on his left arm.
Kenyon Martin
Few NBA tattoos have gotten as much attention as Martin’s neck work, which began as the lips of his then-girlfriend Trina and since their breakup has been covered by a crown.
J.R. Smith
There’s been some debate about who has more tattoos, Smith or Andersen, but Gary Forbes says it’s Smith for sure. Since Smith is one of the most tattooed players in the league, it follows that he’s had his designs well documented. I think this profile from Dime Magazine which covers both his Yankees-flipping “Young Money” neck tattoo and his “married to the game” ring finger NBA tattoo (which includes “I Do” in script) best covers the spectrum of his work.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Raymond Felton
Kosta Koufos
Timofey Mozgov
Nene
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
Denver Nuggets, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
Denver’s massive trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York changed them from the team with the most tattoos in the league to the seventh place team. Since last year, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and Wilson Chandler have all left the team, further reducing their percentages. Curious to see if this changes their reputation at all….
Players with tattoos:
Chris Andersen
The Birdman’s tattoos are fairly well documented and have brought him a lot of attention, even from non-NBA fans. In advance of a 2010 profile in Dime, the magazine created a video with images of Andersen’s tattoos and some very perplexing quotes.
Wilson Chandler
Chandler has so many tattoos and so many great tattoos it’s difficult to know where to start. I like this quote:
Chandler (pointing to a design on his neck): It’s an ace of spades, on fire
Interviewer: okay, why’s that?
Chandler: Just, you know, it’s the highest card out of the deck
Rudy Fernandez
FY! Rudy Fernandez posted a nice description of Fernandez’s wrist tattoo.
Danilo Gallinari
Well hidden by his jersey, Gallinari has a massive Armani logo tattooed on his ribs, borne of a connection deeper than his Italian nationality: “Armani Jeans is one of my sponsors—this tattoo is the Armani Jeans Milano team’s logo. When I go in a store, I take all the clothes I want. Mr. Armani and I are close. He came to town for Christmas, and we went to dinner with my parents.”
Jordan Hamilton
Hamilton has a tattoo on his right wrist.
Al Harrington
On Harrington’s back is a tattoo of himself begin lifted by an angel. In the design, Harrington is shirtless, displaying the tattoos on his chest and stomach. I like thinking that when he gets new tattoos on his front he has to have them added to the one on his back.
Ty Lawson
Certified Customs of Denver, Colorado posted photos on their blog of the work Lawson had done there in 2010.
JaVale McGee
Last summer McGee participated in PEAK’s lockout diaries video series (Dorell Wright and Shane Battier also contributed videos). For one video, McGee talks through his tattoos—tributes to his mother, grandmother, place of birth, and basketball—all of which are located on his chest, stomach, and back. He explains that there are more to come, but “none on my arms or anything. I feel like that’s unprofessional, I feel like you should have tats that you can hide. That’s why I don’t have any on my arms or on my neck or anything.” The “AMEN” speech bubble coming off of his “TRULY BLESSED” tattoo is pretty special.
Andre Miller
In April of 2011, during Miller’s final season with the Blazers, the Oregonian printed a long profile which described Miller’s rarely-seen back tattoo:
Today, Miller carries a large tattoo on his back, with the outline of California and old English-style lettering that reads “E. Watts.” He is private revealing the roots of the tattoo, saying only that he lost a bet growing up.
Julyan Stone
The NBA website featured a short profile of this undrafted rookie the day before the 2011-12 season began which documented Stone’s commitment to his family:
Though he will be away from his family on Christmas, they are never far from his thoughts. He has tattoos on his arms reading “Stone” and “Cooley,” (his mother’s maiden name) and he talks to his five nieces and nephews nearly every day.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Corey Brewer
Kenneth Faried
Kostas Koufos
Timofey Mozgov
Denver Nuggets 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 64% (9 players with tattoos, 5 without)
Denver has a reputation for being the most tattooed team in the league, and up until their massive mid-season trade, they did. The February shake-up that sent Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman, and Shelden Williams to New York and brought Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Ray Felton, Timofey Mozgov and Kosta Koufos to Denver traded five tattooed players for two. Before the trade, the Nuggets had 12 players with tattoos and two without, barely edging out the Lakers and Knicks for most tattoos. After the trade, Denver doesn’t even stand in the top five (there are six teams with more tattooed players).
Regardless of numbers, it’s interesting to consider the impression of the Nuggets as most tattooed, which may go hand-in-hand with their other reputation, the one that earned them the nickname the Denver Thuggets. Obviously there’s a tone set by Kenyon Martin’s trash talk and J.R. Smith’s all-highlights no-rudiments bravado. But thinking about the Nuggets’ tattoos you also have to consider Al Harrington’s unpredictability and Chris Andersen’s sideshow ridiculousness. It’s nice to think that tattoos may exit the endless conversation lamenting the lack of fundamentals, the prevalence of dunking, the lost art of passing and just become an occasionally-exciting side note to the game. Bill Simmons seems to think so: “Because of their phenomenal collection of tattoos, no team has ever been more fascinating to watch in HD — which makes it doubly funny that they play in Denver, the one city in which people would absolutely get stoned and watch a basketball game just to marvel at tattoos in HD for 150 minutes. I’m telling you, there is MAJOR karma going on here.”
—
Players with tattoos:
Chris Andersen
The Birdman’s transition from anonymous crewcut dude to mohawked warrior is well documented, and he’s created enough of an identity through his tattoos that people who couldn’t care less about basketball know all about this second squad forward.
Wilson Chandler
I have a real soft spot for Chandler stemming from his heart and his bravery during the Isiah Thomas dark years for the Knicks. He always had some kind of surprise for the crowd, even if sometimes it was just a new angle on one of his tattoos. Apparently other Knicks fans agreed, and when Chandler had a blog on the Knicks site, questions about his tattoos vastly outnumbered any others, and he dedicated an entire blog entry to discussing them. One of the weirder ones in the list, even though his nonchalance makes it sound pretty casual, is his eyeball tattoo: “On my hand I have a picture of an eye with the words ‘All is Well’ underneath. It’s supposed to be an angels eye that watches over me, protects me and lets me know that all is well.” That’s a lot to ask of a tattoo. Chandler deserves it.
Also notable: the full-back portrait of X-Men villain Juggernaut.
Melvin Ely
Has tattoos on both shoulders, including a writhing dragon on his right side.
Gary Forbes
At the beginning of 2009, Forbes was an undrafted UMass product with a handful of tattoos on his arms. By the end of 2010, he had notched his first start in an NBA game, and had his previously isolated designs woven together into two full sleeves, heavy on the stars.
Danilo Gallinari
Well hidden by his jersey, Gallinari has a massive Armani logo tattooed on his ribs, borne of a connection deeper than his Italian nationality: “Armani Jeans is one of my sponsors—this tattoo is the Armani Jeans Milano team’s logo. When I go in a store, I take all the clothes I want. Mr. Armani and I are close. He came to town for Christmas, and we went to dinner with my parents.”
Al Harrington
Among Harrington’s many tattoos is a great snarling wolf over his heart with the words “Killer Instinct.” Bonus humor points: the “veni vidi vici” tattoo on his collar is often misread as saying something about weed.
Ty Lawson
After joining the Nuggets, Lawson got a full sleeve tattooed on his left arm.
Kenyon Martin
Few NBA tattoos have gotten as much attention as Martin’s neck work, which began as the lips of his then-girlfriend Trina and since their breakup has been covered by a crown.
J.R. Smith
There’s been some debate about who has more tattoos, Smith or Andersen, but Gary Forbes says it’s Smith for sure. Since Smith is one of the most tattooed players in the league, it follows that he’s had his designs well documented. I think this profile from Dime Magazine which covers both his Yankees-flipping “Young Money” neck tattoo and his “married to the game” ring finger NBA tattoo (which includes “I Do” in script) best covers the spectrum of his work.
Players without tattoos:
Arron Afflalo
Raymond Felton
Kosta Koufos
Timofey Mozgov
Nene
