Minnesota Timberwolves, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 without)
The Wolves have a below average number of tattooed players, but their percentage went up a bit from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Michael Beasley
Young Beasley, whose designs are among the most talked about in the league, described tattoos as both a language and a form of narrative for the Minneapolis Citypages: “I love tattoos. I feel like the era I’ve grown up in, tattoos are expression. Every tattoo I have has a meaning. Every tattoo I have is something I’ve been through.”
Wayne Ellington
Ellington has a tattoo on his inside right bicep.
Brad Miller
Miller has a tattoo of cartoon character Scrappy Doo.
Nikola Pekovic
Pekovic’s tattoo of a knight standing atop a heap of skulls is one of the best-loved tattoos in the league, inspiring a t-shirt, impassioned blog posts, and countless remarks that the design fits his game perfectly. Timberwolves blog A Wolf Among Wolves got some great quotes from Pek about the tattoo (“It’s just me and my progress this year,” says Pek, “the drawing is something like me.”) and Sports by Brooks offers an interesting historic review of the tattoo’s potential relationship with the history of Pekovic’s homeland, Montenegro.
Anthony Randolph
Tattoos peek out of both sides of Randolph’s uniform.
Ricky Rubio
Much like fellow Spaniard Rudy Fernandez, Rubio’s only tattoo is a Chinese character on his wrist.
Martell Webster
Webster has tattoos on both arms.
Players without tattoos:
J.J. Barea
Wes Johnson
Malcolm Lee
Kevin Love
Darko Milicic
Luke Ridnour
Anthony Tolliver
Derrick Williams
Dallas Mavericks 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 47% (seven players with tattoos, eight without)
Now that the playoffs have begun, the discussion of how and when the Mavs will choke has begun again, with old ghosts haunting from past seasons. I’m not a fan of the team by any means, but I get a shiver of sympathy when I hear people laugh at them. The triumph of the 2007 Warriors isn’t the only source of amusement at Dallas’s expense: Jason Terry, and especially DeShawn Stevenson have tattoos that seem hilarious to observers, particularly Stevenson. I’m pretty sure even people who don’t follow basketball have gaped at the photo above. But when Stevenson and Terry start talking about their tattoos the emotion thickens like cement, choking off the giggles. Which is, I guess, their hope for how the playoffs run.
—
Players with tattoos:
Caron Butler
While on the Wizards, Butler wrote on his blog about tattoos: “Like many other guys in the NBA, I’m big on tattoos too. I may not be a league leader there, though, because I have just four of them. The tat that means the most to me is the one on my left arm. It says “Rest in Peace, Kailo”. That’s my cousin who died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. I grew up with her and although she’s no longer here, I keep her with me.”
Tyson Chandler
Chandler’s website has a short video where he talks through all of his tattoos, including two different portraits (of his uncle and his daughter), his mother’s name, his wife’s initials, and his first tattoo: “I have a basketball on fire, with my name under it. That was my first tattoo, I was a youngster.”
Dominique Jones
For his rookie year, Jones manifested his love for the league by tattooing the NBA logo on his calf.
Jason Kidd
Kidd’s rarely seen panther tattoo speaks to his longtime love of big cats: “I got this tattoo so long ago. All the way back to about the time I was drafted by the Mavericks. I got it done at a shop in the Bay Area (San Francisco). I just like tigers, panthers, cats in general. I have always wanted to own a panther.”
Shawn Marion
Marion’s Chinese character tattoo on his calf was included in a New York Times article about poorly researched/translated tattoos: “Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns was under the impression that his nickname, ‘the Matrix,’ was tattooed on his leg, but Mr. Tang says the inscription translates as something like ‘demon bird moth balls.’”
DeShawn Stevenson
Tattoos play a vital role in Stevenson’s life. The Abraham Lincoln tattoo on his neck has inspired a lot of laughter but his teammates have nothing but respect. In the words of Caron Butler: “That’s crazy to a lot of people, but not to me. I respect him if he wants to do that. It’s a way for him to celebrate what Lincoln did with the slaves.” Stevenson also has a crack tattooed on his forehead, which he explained at a 2009 media day: “‘I don’t crack,’ he said. ‘I feel like people always try to break me, but I don’t crack. So, I put that there.’” Perhaps the most intense Stevenson tattoo isn’t on his body. His father, Darryl Stevenson, who had dreams of become a pro basketball player, was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic when DeShawn Stevenson was an infant. As a result of a series of violent crimes culminating in the murder of his mother, Darryl Stevenson spent most of his son’s life in prison, and died in Corcoran State Prison the year that DeShawn graduated high school. Tattooed on his chest was one word: “DeShawn.”
Jason Terry
Terry has a tattoo of Underdog, which he explained in a 2008 Dime Magazine interview: “I never was seen as one of the best players on the court ’til senior year of high school. Even at Arizona, I was not a starter ’til senior year.”
Players without tattoos:
J.J. Barea
Rodrique Beaubois
Corey Brewer
Brian Cardinal
Brendan Haywood
Ian Mahinmi
Dirk Nowitzki
Peja Stojakovic
Minnesota Timberwolves, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 without)
The Wolves have a below average number of tattooed players, but their percentage went up a bit from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Michael Beasley
Young Beasley, whose designs are among the most talked about in the league, described tattoos as both a language and a form of narrative for the Minneapolis Citypages: “I love tattoos. I feel like the era I’ve grown up in, tattoos are expression. Every tattoo I have has a meaning. Every tattoo I have is something I’ve been through.”
Wayne Ellington
Ellington has a tattoo on his inside right bicep.
Brad Miller
Miller has a tattoo of cartoon character Scrappy Doo.
Nikola Pekovic
Pekovic’s tattoo of a knight standing atop a heap of skulls is one of the best-loved tattoos in the league, inspiring a t-shirt, impassioned blog posts, and countless remarks that the design fits his game perfectly. Timberwolves blog A Wolf Among Wolves got some great quotes from Pek about the tattoo (“It’s just me and my progress this year,” says Pek, “the drawing is something like me.”) and Sports by Brooks offers an interesting historic review of the tattoo’s potential relationship with the history of Pekovic’s homeland, Montenegro.
Anthony Randolph
Tattoos peek out of both sides of Randolph’s uniform.
Ricky Rubio
Much like fellow Spaniard Rudy Fernandez, Rubio’s only tattoo is a Chinese character on his wrist.
Martell Webster
Webster has tattoos on both arms.
Players without tattoos:
J.J. Barea
Wes Johnson
Malcolm Lee
Kevin Love
Darko Milicic
Luke Ridnour
Anthony Tolliver
Derrick Williams
Dallas Mavericks 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 47% (seven players with tattoos, eight without)
Now that the playoffs have begun, the discussion of how and when the Mavs will choke has begun again, with old ghosts haunting from past seasons. I’m not a fan of the team by any means, but I get a shiver of sympathy when I hear people laugh at them. The triumph of the 2007 Warriors isn’t the only source of amusement at Dallas’s expense: Jason Terry, and especially DeShawn Stevenson have tattoos that seem hilarious to observers, particularly Stevenson. I’m pretty sure even people who don’t follow basketball have gaped at the photo above. But when Stevenson and Terry start talking about their tattoos the emotion thickens like cement, choking off the giggles. Which is, I guess, their hope for how the playoffs run.
—
Players with tattoos:
Caron Butler
While on the Wizards, Butler wrote on his blog about tattoos: “Like many other guys in the NBA, I’m big on tattoos too. I may not be a league leader there, though, because I have just four of them. The tat that means the most to me is the one on my left arm. It says “Rest in Peace, Kailo”. That’s my cousin who died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me. I grew up with her and although she’s no longer here, I keep her with me.”
Tyson Chandler
Chandler’s website has a short video where he talks through all of his tattoos, including two different portraits (of his uncle and his daughter), his mother’s name, his wife’s initials, and his first tattoo: “I have a basketball on fire, with my name under it. That was my first tattoo, I was a youngster.”
Dominique Jones
For his rookie year, Jones manifested his love for the league by tattooing the NBA logo on his calf.
Jason Kidd
Kidd’s rarely seen panther tattoo speaks to his longtime love of big cats: “I got this tattoo so long ago. All the way back to about the time I was drafted by the Mavericks. I got it done at a shop in the Bay Area (San Francisco). I just like tigers, panthers, cats in general. I have always wanted to own a panther.”
Shawn Marion
Marion’s Chinese character tattoo on his calf was included in a New York Times article about poorly researched/translated tattoos: “Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns was under the impression that his nickname, ‘the Matrix,’ was tattooed on his leg, but Mr. Tang says the inscription translates as something like ‘demon bird moth balls.’”
DeShawn Stevenson
Tattoos play a vital role in Stevenson’s life. The Abraham Lincoln tattoo on his neck has inspired a lot of laughter but his teammates have nothing but respect. In the words of Caron Butler: “That’s crazy to a lot of people, but not to me. I respect him if he wants to do that. It’s a way for him to celebrate what Lincoln did with the slaves.” Stevenson also has a crack tattooed on his forehead, which he explained at a 2009 media day: “‘I don’t crack,’ he said. ‘I feel like people always try to break me, but I don’t crack. So, I put that there.’” Perhaps the most intense Stevenson tattoo isn’t on his body. His father, Darryl Stevenson, who had dreams of become a pro basketball player, was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic when DeShawn Stevenson was an infant. As a result of a series of violent crimes culminating in the murder of his mother, Darryl Stevenson spent most of his son’s life in prison, and died in Corcoran State Prison the year that DeShawn graduated high school. Tattooed on his chest was one word: “DeShawn.”
Jason Terry
Terry has a tattoo of Underdog, which he explained in a 2008 Dime Magazine interview: “I never was seen as one of the best players on the court ’til senior year of high school. Even at Arizona, I was not a starter ’til senior year.”
Players without tattoos:
J.J. Barea
Rodrique Beaubois
Corey Brewer
Brian Cardinal
Brendan Haywood
Ian Mahinmi
Dirk Nowitzki
Peja Stojakovic
