Sacramento Kings, 2012-13

Tattoo percentage: 38% (5 players with tattoos, 8 without)

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The Kings’ tattoo percentage decreased from last year.

Players with tattoos:

DeMarcus Cousins
In August of 2011, Cousins posted a photo on Twitter of his new tattoo reading “Misunderstood” along his calf. 

James Johnson
The collection of tattoos on Johnson’s arms includes a collection of aces, a portrait of Christ, an castle turret, and the air Jordan logo. 

Patrick Patterson
Last year Patterson shared a photo of himself on instagram showing the Martin Luther King Jr. tattoo on his chest. On MLK day in 2013, he revealed on twitter that he has two different King quote tattoos, and was considering a third.

John Salmons
Salmons has Chinese characters on his right arm. According to the website NiuBBall.com, it’s identical to Jermaine O’Neal’s Chinese tattoo, and means “person who sells coffins.” 

Isaiah Thomas
Thomas is another NBA player from the northwest, raised in Tacoma, Washington. In the summer of 2012, he and Jamal Crawford (raised in Seattle), both got tattooed by Randy Harris of Tattoos by Randy. Thomas added a full sleeve representing Tacoma to his already developed collection of tattoos.

Players without tattoos:

Cole Aldrich
Toney Douglas
Tyreke Evans
Jimmer Fredette
Chuck Hayes
Travis Outlaw
Jason Thompson
Marcus Thornton



Crowned Basketball Tattoos

Undoubtedly inspired by Thabo Sefalosha’s “The Game Chose Me” design, on Sunday night Brian Cardinal asked twitter how many NBA players have tattoos of basketballs with crowns. This is not a conclusive answer, but here are a few:

Acie Law:

DeMarcus Cousins:

Eric Maynor:

Thabo Sefalosha:

Brandon Rush:

Jared Jeffries:



DeMarcus Cousins Rosary Tattoo

Not sure if it’s new or not but I just noticed this rosary tattoo on Cousins’s left wrist. Hang in there buddy….



Sacramento Kings, 2011-12

Tattoo percentage: 50% (7 players with tattoos, 7 players without)

The Kings keep their percentage dead even with last year’s team regardless of a few trades and the addition of rookies Fredette, Honeycutt, and Thomas.

Players with tattoos:

DeMarcus Cousins
In August of 2011, Cousins posted a photo on Twitter of his new tattoo reading “Misunderstood” along his calf.

Donte Greene
Greene has tattoos on both arms.

Tyler Honeycutt
On Honeycutt’s right shoulder is a tattoo of a hand holding a basketball framed by the text “City of Angels” in script.

John Salmons
Salmons has Chinese characters on his right arm. According to the website NiuBBall.com, it’s identical to Jermaine O’Neal’s Chinese tattoo, and means “person who sells coffins.”

Isaiah Thomas
Among Thomas’s many tattoos is a quote from the film Hoop Dreams on his right shoulder.

Marcus Thornton
Among Thornton’s many tattoos is a line of text along his collar that reads: “Protected by God I fear no man.”

Terrence Williams
Another of the heavily-tattooed players born and raised in Seattle, Williams has a tattoo of the number 8 resting in a spiderweb, a reference to the Section 8 housing that he and Nate Robinson and their other friends grew up in, a tattoo that many of them have.

Players without tattoos:

Tyreke Evans
Jimmer Fredette
Francisco Garcia
Chuck Hayes
Travis Outlaw
Jason Thompson
Hassan Whiteside



Anonymous asked: What does Demarcus Cousins' new tattoo say?

The text reads “MISUNDERSTOOD” which makes it pretty funny that it’s so difficult to read. Note also the hazy question mark backgrounding the letters



Cousins posted this photo of his new calf tattoo on twitter over the weekend. Unfortunately my December 2010 fan letter to DeMarcus Cousins disappeared with the rest of seenallover.com. Glad to see he’s addressing public opinion.

Cousins posted this photo of his new calf tattoo on twitter over the weekend. Unfortunately my December 2010 fan letter to DeMarcus Cousins disappeared with the rest of seenallover.com. Glad to see he’s addressing public opinion.



Every Team’s Got One: Pacific Division

About one-sixth of NBA players have a tattoo of a basketball. It makes sense, lots of people commemorate their passions via tattoos: cyclists, chefs, shredders, LL Cool J. Still, what’s amazing is that every team has at least one player with a basketball tattoo, even the Hornets, who only have two tattooed players. Basketball tattoos range from iconic (Jordan jumpman; NBA logo), to narcissistic (Carlos Boozer’s self portrait), to symbolic (basketball wearing a crown, basketball meshed with a cross), to weird (Rip Hamilton’s gravestone). Going division by division, Every Team’s Got One will sort out the the highlights across the league, continuing here with the Pacific division. Click HERE to view other divisions.

Golden State Warriors

Monta Ellis:

Acie Law:

Los Angeles Clippers

Jamario Moon:

Willie Warren:

Los Angeles Lakers

Matt Barnes:

Devin Ebanks:

Trey Johnson:

Luke Walton:

Phoenix Suns

Marcin Gortat:

Sacramento Kings

DeMarcus Cousins:

Marcus Thornton:



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 



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.