Milwaukee Bucks, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos; 8 without)
The Bucks were one of the most heavily tattooed teams last year, but with the loss of John Salmons, Corey Maggette, and, most notably, Chris Douglas-Roberts, their numbers have fallen this year, even with the addition of Monta Ellis.
Players with tattoos:
Jon Brockman
Brockman and his two siblings all have a tattoo of the Tree of Life. According to their father, “it’s not a real popular topic in our household.” According to Brockman, “it’s something close to me and it reminds me of my brother and sister when I don’t get to see them for a long time. So I like it.”
Kwame Brown
Has a tattoo below his right elbow.
Carlos Delfino
There’s something about the stylized, bold lines of Delfino’s dragon tattoo that makes me think it’s a logo or from a flag or something, but I’ve never found any corollary. Someone did get a copy of it in 2009….
Monta Ellis
One of the most heavily tattooed players in the league, Ellis got his start the summer following his rookie year, according to a 2010 USA Today profile: “It started four years ago, when Ellis, 25, who admits to being bored and a homebody, was back home in Jackson, Miss., and Memphis. He got 14 tattoos during an offseason.” According to an interview with Randy Wittman of Tattoos by Randy, whose done most of Ellis’s tattoos, including his well loved chest and back pieces, Ellis can sit for 8-10 hour sessions, which kind of breaks my mind.
Drew Gooden
Gooden has historically put a lot of effort into unconventional looks, such as this haircut or this beard. A 2007 Akron Beacon-Journal article focuses on Gooden’s then-recent tattoo, his first new work since he was 15 years old. The article reports that the tattoo is Dali-like, featuring a melting clock, set to 11:11 for good luck. At opposite sides of the clock a pair of angels and a devil observe time, completing this fittingly outlandish design for Gooden. Still, not really beats actually seeing it.
Brandon Jennings
L.A. native Jennings was two years old when N.W.A.’s Efil4zaggin came out, but the record clearly had an impact on Jennings, as evidenced by the “Always Into Somethin’” tattoo on his calf. A couple years ago Jennings posted a photo of the album on tape, but it’s not really worth digging through his twitter pics to find it. Sorry.
Larry Sanders
Last fall Sanders was featured on the internet TV show “Marked Up” where he discussed his path to becoming one of the NBA’s most heavily tattooed players. Interestingly, he gives partial credit to a college professor, who he described as “sleeved up.”
Players without tattoos:
Mike Dunleavy
Tobias Harris
Ersan Ilyasova
Jon Leuer
Shaun Livingston
Luc Mbah a Moute
Ekpe Udoh
Bene Udrih
Players no longer on roster:
Darington Hobson: no tattoos
Sacramento Kings, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 50% (7 players with tattoos, 7 without)
I like a lot of the pieces on the Kings—the young guys like Cousins and Thompson, Francisco Garcia’s gravity, Thornton’s dominance since being traded from the Hornets—and I would love it if Geoff Petrie would keep the squad together and try and pick up the momentum they had for the last month of the season. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen. I think the difference between Daniels’ “Only the strong survive” and Jackson’s “Suicide is not an option” pretty much spells out the almost-but-actually-not-at-all chemistry the team has.
—
Players with tattoos:
DeMarcus Cousins
On Cousins’ left arm is a spider sitting in a web that stretches from his shoulder to his elbow, marked with the text: “stuck in the game.” On his right arm is a basketball wearing a crown with a banner that reads “king of the game.” Game!
Marquis Daniels
Daniels is without question one of the most tattooed players in the league, and bearer of one of the most stressful tattoos in the world: beneath the text “only the strong survive,” a man commits suicide with a rifle. When asked about the tattoo, Daniels explained, ““If you’re not strong, you’re willing to do anything to find a way out.”
Donte Greene
Until the arrival of Daniels, Green was the most heavily tattooed player on the Kings. While more recent photos reveal the tattoo on his right shoulder to be a ball passing through a hoop, surrounded by flames, tell me it didn’t look like Cousin It wearing a top hat back in his rookie year.
Darnell Jackson
Jackson just got on twitter in March of 2011. Less than 60 tweets in, he posted a heartbreaker on March 25, the anniversary of his mother’s suicide. While Jackson has quite a few tattoos, including a tribute to his deceased grandmother on his left shoulder, it’s the one for his mother—the text “suicide is not an option” on his wrist—that he leans on the most: “If I’m out here working out or if I’m sitting in a room or if I’m working out in the weight room, I always just take a glance at my wrist and be like, ‘Suicide is not an option.’”
Pooh Jeter
The internet is seriously fronting on Jeter and the tattoo that occasionally peeks out of the left side of his jersey. I can’t find a photo anywhere.
Jermaine Taylor
Taylor has both arms pretty much covered.
Marcus Thornton
Among Thornton’s many tattoos is a line of text along his collar that reads: “Protected by God I fear no man.”
Players without tattoos:
Omri Casspi
Samuel Dalembert
Tyreke Evans
Francisco Garcia
Jason Thompson
Bene Udrih
Hassan Whiteside
Milwaukee Bucks, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos; 8 without)
The Bucks were one of the most heavily tattooed teams last year, but with the loss of John Salmons, Corey Maggette, and, most notably, Chris Douglas-Roberts, their numbers have fallen this year, even with the addition of Monta Ellis.
Players with tattoos:
Jon Brockman
Brockman and his two siblings all have a tattoo of the Tree of Life. According to their father, “it’s not a real popular topic in our household.” According to Brockman, “it’s something close to me and it reminds me of my brother and sister when I don’t get to see them for a long time. So I like it.”
Kwame Brown
Has a tattoo below his right elbow.
Carlos Delfino
There’s something about the stylized, bold lines of Delfino’s dragon tattoo that makes me think it’s a logo or from a flag or something, but I’ve never found any corollary. Someone did get a copy of it in 2009….
Monta Ellis
One of the most heavily tattooed players in the league, Ellis got his start the summer following his rookie year, according to a 2010 USA Today profile: “It started four years ago, when Ellis, 25, who admits to being bored and a homebody, was back home in Jackson, Miss., and Memphis. He got 14 tattoos during an offseason.” According to an interview with Randy Wittman of Tattoos by Randy, whose done most of Ellis’s tattoos, including his well loved chest and back pieces, Ellis can sit for 8-10 hour sessions, which kind of breaks my mind.
Drew Gooden
Gooden has historically put a lot of effort into unconventional looks, such as this haircut or this beard. A 2007 Akron Beacon-Journal article focuses on Gooden’s then-recent tattoo, his first new work since he was 15 years old. The article reports that the tattoo is Dali-like, featuring a melting clock, set to 11:11 for good luck. At opposite sides of the clock a pair of angels and a devil observe time, completing this fittingly outlandish design for Gooden. Still, not really beats actually seeing it.
Brandon Jennings
L.A. native Jennings was two years old when N.W.A.’s Efil4zaggin came out, but the record clearly had an impact on Jennings, as evidenced by the “Always Into Somethin’” tattoo on his calf. A couple years ago Jennings posted a photo of the album on tape, but it’s not really worth digging through his twitter pics to find it. Sorry.
Larry Sanders
Last fall Sanders was featured on the internet TV show “Marked Up” where he discussed his path to becoming one of the NBA’s most heavily tattooed players. Interestingly, he gives partial credit to a college professor, who he described as “sleeved up.”
Players without tattoos:
Mike Dunleavy
Tobias Harris
Ersan Ilyasova
Jon Leuer
Shaun Livingston
Luc Mbah a Moute
Ekpe Udoh
Bene Udrih
Players no longer on roster:
Darington Hobson: no tattoos
Sacramento Kings, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 50% (7 players with tattoos, 7 without)
I like a lot of the pieces on the Kings—the young guys like Cousins and Thompson, Francisco Garcia’s gravity, Thornton’s dominance since being traded from the Hornets—and I would love it if Geoff Petrie would keep the squad together and try and pick up the momentum they had for the last month of the season. I have a feeling it’s not going to happen. I think the difference between Daniels’ “Only the strong survive” and Jackson’s “Suicide is not an option” pretty much spells out the almost-but-actually-not-at-all chemistry the team has.
—
Players with tattoos:
DeMarcus Cousins
On Cousins’ left arm is a spider sitting in a web that stretches from his shoulder to his elbow, marked with the text: “stuck in the game.” On his right arm is a basketball wearing a crown with a banner that reads “king of the game.” Game!
Marquis Daniels
Daniels is without question one of the most tattooed players in the league, and bearer of one of the most stressful tattoos in the world: beneath the text “only the strong survive,” a man commits suicide with a rifle. When asked about the tattoo, Daniels explained, ““If you’re not strong, you’re willing to do anything to find a way out.”
Donte Greene
Until the arrival of Daniels, Green was the most heavily tattooed player on the Kings. While more recent photos reveal the tattoo on his right shoulder to be a ball passing through a hoop, surrounded by flames, tell me it didn’t look like Cousin It wearing a top hat back in his rookie year.
Darnell Jackson
Jackson just got on twitter in March of 2011. Less than 60 tweets in, he posted a heartbreaker on March 25, the anniversary of his mother’s suicide. While Jackson has quite a few tattoos, including a tribute to his deceased grandmother on his left shoulder, it’s the one for his mother—the text “suicide is not an option” on his wrist—that he leans on the most: “If I’m out here working out or if I’m sitting in a room or if I’m working out in the weight room, I always just take a glance at my wrist and be like, ‘Suicide is not an option.’”
Pooh Jeter
The internet is seriously fronting on Jeter and the tattoo that occasionally peeks out of the left side of his jersey. I can’t find a photo anywhere.
Jermaine Taylor
Taylor has both arms pretty much covered.
Marcus Thornton
Among Thornton’s many tattoos is a line of text along his collar that reads: “Protected by God I fear no man.”
Players without tattoos:
Omri Casspi
Samuel Dalembert
Tyreke Evans
Francisco Garcia
Jason Thompson
Bene Udrih
Hassan Whiteside
