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
Portland Trail Blazers, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 players without)
If you look at last year’s page for the Blazers, you’ll note that this year I’m just replicating all of the text I wrote then, as opposed to other teams where I’ve tried to provide new information/research. For the Blazers I’ve decided to phone it in in an act of solidarity with the 2011-12 Blazers team.
Players with tattoos:
LaMarcus Aldridge
While it’s notable that Aldridge has the most tattoos on the Blazers, it’s more notable that every one of his 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.”
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.
J.J. Hickson
Hickson’s tattoos run up both arms and across his chest.
Wesley Matthews
To show his love for his mother, Matthews got a tattoo that reads “Dynamic Duo” for his eighteenth birthday. For an NBA.com article titled “Wesley Matthews: A Proud Mama’s Boy,” his mother recalled, “I wouldn’t let him get a tattoo until he was of legal age. He had little skinny arms then so it wasn’t a very big tattoo.”
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.
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.”
Shawne Williams
Williams has a tattoo on his left forearm.
Players without tattoos:
Luke Babbitt
Nicholas Batum
Raymond Felton
Jonny Flynn
Craig Smith
Hasheem Thabeet
Kurt Thomas
Elliot Williams
No longer on roster:
Armon Johnson: no tattoos
Greg Oden:Oden entered the league with a tribute to his deceased best friend over his heart, as described by a New York Times piece.
Mehmet Okur: no tattoos
Houston Rockets 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 36% (5 players with tattoos, 9 without)
Obviously their major story this year has been Yao Ming’s absence, but slowly this story is transforming to the way this otherwise young team is coming together. More than half of the Houston Rockets are under 25, and while Luis Scola is still a major force, the players to watch are clearly the younger ones. Following the storyline of their tattoos, it’s obvious these guys have been through some trials, and rebuilding a post-Yao team seems like a walk through the park by comparison.
—
Players with tattoos:
Jordan Hill
While at college, the heavily tattooed Hill described his tattoos for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, including the tribute for his mother: “My mom passed when I was 3, so I got “in love and memory”, the year she was born and when she died, a basketball and a banner with her name in it, Carol. And on the bottom I got ‘Doing it for you.’”
Courtney Lee
A 2010 NBA.com article revisited the end of Lee’s freshman year of college, when his roommate and close friend Danny Rumph died from a heart attack. To commemorate their friendship, and pay tribute, Lee got a tattoo on his right arm.
Brad Miller
Miller has a tattoo of cartoon character Scrappy Doo.
Patrick Patterson
While still at Kentucky, Patterson had a Martin Luther King Jr. quote tattooed on his chest: “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
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:
Marqus Blakely
Chase Budinger
Goran Dragic
Chuck Hayes
Kyle Lowry
Kevin Martin: Martin is uninterested in tattoos, for several reasons: “I’m never going to get a tattoo. I don’t like needles, so I’m not going to let a needle on me. But I also want to be a clean-cut guy. That’s just how I am.”
Luis Scola: Once said tattoos are not cute (“no quedan lindos”).
Hasheem Thabeet
Yao Ming
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
Portland Trail Blazers, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 players without)
If you look at last year’s page for the Blazers, you’ll note that this year I’m just replicating all of the text I wrote then, as opposed to other teams where I’ve tried to provide new information/research. For the Blazers I’ve decided to phone it in in an act of solidarity with the 2011-12 Blazers team.
Players with tattoos:
LaMarcus Aldridge
While it’s notable that Aldridge has the most tattoos on the Blazers, it’s more notable that every one of his 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.”
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.
J.J. Hickson
Hickson’s tattoos run up both arms and across his chest.
Wesley Matthews
To show his love for his mother, Matthews got a tattoo that reads “Dynamic Duo” for his eighteenth birthday. For an NBA.com article titled “Wesley Matthews: A Proud Mama’s Boy,” his mother recalled, “I wouldn’t let him get a tattoo until he was of legal age. He had little skinny arms then so it wasn’t a very big tattoo.”
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.
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.”
Shawne Williams
Williams has a tattoo on his left forearm.
Players without tattoos:
Luke Babbitt
Nicholas Batum
Raymond Felton
Jonny Flynn
Craig Smith
Hasheem Thabeet
Kurt Thomas
Elliot Williams
No longer on roster:
Armon Johnson: no tattoos
Greg Oden:Oden entered the league with a tribute to his deceased best friend over his heart, as described by a New York Times piece.
Mehmet Okur: no tattoos
Houston Rockets 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 36% (5 players with tattoos, 9 without)
Obviously their major story this year has been Yao Ming’s absence, but slowly this story is transforming to the way this otherwise young team is coming together. More than half of the Houston Rockets are under 25, and while Luis Scola is still a major force, the players to watch are clearly the younger ones. Following the storyline of their tattoos, it’s obvious these guys have been through some trials, and rebuilding a post-Yao team seems like a walk through the park by comparison.
—
Players with tattoos:
Jordan Hill
While at college, the heavily tattooed Hill described his tattoos for the Arizona Daily Wildcat, including the tribute for his mother: “My mom passed when I was 3, so I got “in love and memory”, the year she was born and when she died, a basketball and a banner with her name in it, Carol. And on the bottom I got ‘Doing it for you.’”
Courtney Lee
A 2010 NBA.com article revisited the end of Lee’s freshman year of college, when his roommate and close friend Danny Rumph died from a heart attack. To commemorate their friendship, and pay tribute, Lee got a tattoo on his right arm.
Brad Miller
Miller has a tattoo of cartoon character Scrappy Doo.
Patrick Patterson
While still at Kentucky, Patterson had a Martin Luther King Jr. quote tattooed on his chest: “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
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:
Marqus Blakely
Chase Budinger
Goran Dragic
Chuck Hayes
Kyle Lowry
Kevin Martin: Martin is uninterested in tattoos, for several reasons: “I’m never going to get a tattoo. I don’t like needles, so I’m not going to let a needle on me. But I also want to be a clean-cut guy. That’s just how I am.”
Luis Scola: Once said tattoos are not cute (“no quedan lindos”).
Hasheem Thabeet
Yao Ming
