Los Angeles Clippers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Clippers had a decrease in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Matt Barnes
In 2008, Barnes founded the Athletes vs. Cancer foundation in memory of his mother, who passed away from lung cancer. In 2010, he added a portrait of his mother, framed by angel’s wings, to his many tattoos. As he explained to Tom Hoffarth of Inside So Cal, “this keeps her around.”
Chauncey Billups
On Billups’s left shoulder is a tattoo of a crowned figure spinning a basketball on his finger. Surrounding the figure are the words “King of the Hill,” a reference to the Denver neighborhood Billups grew up in. In an IGN Sports interview, Billups described it as his favorite tattoo, and explained the significance: “My neighborhood back home is called Park Hill. It’s a hood thing. All of my tats mean something.”
Eric Bledsoe
Bledsoe has tattoos along both arms.
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.”
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.
DeAndre Jordan
Among Jordan’s many tattoos is a portrait of his grandfather on his stomach, added in 2012.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ronny Turiaf
In March of 2011, Turiaf began work on a new tattoo on his left arm: a phoenix rising from ashes.
Maalik Wayns
Wayns has tattoos on both arms. In 2011, he posted to twitter: “God I hope I’m living right and sorry for the tattoos.”
Players without tattoos:
Willie Green
Blake Griffin
Grant Hill
Ryan Hollins
Chris Paul
Dallas Mavericks, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 players without)
The Mavs tattoo percentage dropped a little from last year, which seems inevitable considering they lost both DeShawn Stevenson and Tyson Chandler in the offseason. Still the only team with two Larry O’Brien tattoos, and probably will stay that way, regardless of future championships.
Players with tattoos:
Dominique Jones
While still a junior in college, Jones was included in an article about tattoos on the USF basketball team. The piece reports that he had more than 20 tattoos at that time, listing several of them, including two Michael Jordan quotes tattooed on his stomach: “The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace.” And, “Basketball is my escape, my refuge. It seems that everything else is so … so busy and complicated.”
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 has a noble creature tattooed on his right shoulder that he described as a bull, to represent his Taurean nature: “I’m a Taurus at heart baby!” he declares, in a 2010 Ro Parrish video interview.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
Jason Terry
At the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Terry got the Larry O’Brien trophy tattooed on his right bicep to inspire himself and his teammates. At the end of that season, the Mavs won their first championship.
Delonte West
Among his many tattoos (including a Christian religious narrative that starts on his neck and runs down his chest) is script along his ribs reads: “For those I love I sacrifice.” In an interview he elaborated, “I definitely sacrificed getting them on these ribs, I’ll tell you that.”
Players without tattoos:
Kelenna Azubuike
Rodrique Beaubois
Brian Cardinal
Vince Carter
Brendan Haywood
Yi Jianlian
Ian Mahinmi
Dirk Nowitzki
Brandan Wright
No longer on roster:
Sean Williams: no tattoos
Los Angeles Lakers, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 80% (12 players with tattoos, 3 without)
The Lakers have three players without tattoos: European Pau Gasol (who got respect from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for avoiding ink); lovable nerd Andrew Bynum (“when I’m 50, I might not want something written on my arm”); and 38-year old veteran Theo Ratliff. The other 4/5th of the team is a ridiculously diverse collection of dudes, but they all have some tattoos.
—
Players with tattoos:
Ron Artest
Artest has the name “Quanisha” tattooed on his bicep, a tribute to his sister who died as an infant.
Matt Barnes
Barnes is one of those guys whose tattoos have started to overlap and become uncountable. In 2008, he explained in an interview: “Seriously, I have no idea how many I have. I got my first tattoo when I was 17, so I’m 11 years into getting tattoos.”
Steve Blake
On the Lakers blog, Blake dropped a bombshell while playing the game Would You Rather: “I do have one tattoo, but it’s not visible to the public eye.”
Shannon Brown
Brown has tattoos on both arms. Also his wife Monica has his name tattooed on her wrist.
Kobe Bryant
Bryant laced his daughter, wife, and God on his right arm.
Derrick Caracter
Caracter has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Devin Ebanks
Ebanks’ high school coach used to say “Make shots, not excuses,” a phrase that resonated deeply enough that two players on the team wanted to make it permanent. “He was going to get the tattoo, but I stole it,” Ebanks said in a Times West Virginian article, referring to a teammate who intended to have the phrase tattooed on his arm. “I got it before he did.”
Derek Fisher
Fish has a couple of Chinese characters tattooed on his right forearm that translate to “to be faithful in heart, mind, and spirit.”
Trey Johnson
Johnson has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
Joe Smith
Among Smith’s tattoos is the following text on his forearm: “Only God can judge me. Rest in Peace MS2.” The text is a tribute combining the initials and jersey number of his former Timberwolves teammate Malik Sealy who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000. Former teammate Kevin Garnett has the same tribute on his arm.
Luke Walton
Better just to leave it in Walton’s own words: “The first one I got here, I got in college, and I got the Grateful Dead skeletons but with basketballs instead of canes and hats.”
Players without tattoos:
Andrew Bynum
Pau Gasol
Theo Ratiff
Los Angeles Clippers, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 67% (10 players with tattoos, 5 without)
The Clippers had a decrease in tattoo percentage from last year.
Players with tattoos:
Matt Barnes
In 2008, Barnes founded the Athletes vs. Cancer foundation in memory of his mother, who passed away from lung cancer. In 2010, he added a portrait of his mother, framed by angel’s wings, to his many tattoos. As he explained to Tom Hoffarth of Inside So Cal, “this keeps her around.”
Chauncey Billups
On Billups’s left shoulder is a tattoo of a crowned figure spinning a basketball on his finger. Surrounding the figure are the words “King of the Hill,” a reference to the Denver neighborhood Billups grew up in. In an IGN Sports interview, Billups described it as his favorite tattoo, and explained the significance: “My neighborhood back home is called Park Hill. It’s a hood thing. All of my tats mean something.”
Eric Bledsoe
Bledsoe has tattoos along both arms.
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.”
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.
DeAndre Jordan
Among Jordan’s many tattoos is a portrait of his grandfather on his stomach, added in 2012.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
DaJuan Summers
Summers has both arms well covered, but it’s his first tattoo, acquired in high school, that he looks to for comfort: “‘It has my name on it,’ says his mother, Twana, a supermarket meat cutter who raised her three kids alone in Baltimore after her husband died when DaJuan was just 3. ‘And it has the names of [his sister] Regina and [brother] Malik. He says when things get tight, he grabs that tattoo.’”
Ronny Turiaf
In March of 2011, Turiaf began work on a new tattoo on his left arm: a phoenix rising from ashes.
Maalik Wayns
Wayns has tattoos on both arms. In 2011, he posted to twitter: “God I hope I’m living right and sorry for the tattoos.”
Players without tattoos:
Willie Green
Blake Griffin
Grant Hill
Ryan Hollins
Chris Paul
Dallas Mavericks, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 players without)
The Mavs tattoo percentage dropped a little from last year, which seems inevitable considering they lost both DeShawn Stevenson and Tyson Chandler in the offseason. Still the only team with two Larry O’Brien tattoos, and probably will stay that way, regardless of future championships.
Players with tattoos:
Dominique Jones
While still a junior in college, Jones was included in an article about tattoos on the USF basketball team. The piece reports that he had more than 20 tattoos at that time, listing several of them, including two Michael Jordan quotes tattooed on his stomach: “The game is my wife. It demands loyalty and responsibility, and it gives me back fulfillment and peace.” And, “Basketball is my escape, my refuge. It seems that everything else is so … so busy and complicated.”
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 has a noble creature tattooed on his right shoulder that he described as a bull, to represent his Taurean nature: “I’m a Taurus at heart baby!” he declares, in a 2010 Ro Parrish video interview.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
Jason Terry
At the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Terry got the Larry O’Brien trophy tattooed on his right bicep to inspire himself and his teammates. At the end of that season, the Mavs won their first championship.
Delonte West
Among his many tattoos (including a Christian religious narrative that starts on his neck and runs down his chest) is script along his ribs reads: “For those I love I sacrifice.” In an interview he elaborated, “I definitely sacrificed getting them on these ribs, I’ll tell you that.”
Players without tattoos:
Kelenna Azubuike
Rodrique Beaubois
Brian Cardinal
Vince Carter
Brendan Haywood
Yi Jianlian
Ian Mahinmi
Dirk Nowitzki
Brandan Wright
No longer on roster:
Sean Williams: no tattoos
Los Angeles Lakers, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 80% (12 players with tattoos, 3 without)
The Lakers have three players without tattoos: European Pau Gasol (who got respect from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for avoiding ink); lovable nerd Andrew Bynum (“when I’m 50, I might not want something written on my arm”); and 38-year old veteran Theo Ratliff. The other 4/5th of the team is a ridiculously diverse collection of dudes, but they all have some tattoos.
—
Players with tattoos:
Ron Artest
Artest has the name “Quanisha” tattooed on his bicep, a tribute to his sister who died as an infant.
Matt Barnes
Barnes is one of those guys whose tattoos have started to overlap and become uncountable. In 2008, he explained in an interview: “Seriously, I have no idea how many I have. I got my first tattoo when I was 17, so I’m 11 years into getting tattoos.”
Steve Blake
On the Lakers blog, Blake dropped a bombshell while playing the game Would You Rather: “I do have one tattoo, but it’s not visible to the public eye.”
Shannon Brown
Brown has tattoos on both arms. Also his wife Monica has his name tattooed on her wrist.
Kobe Bryant
Bryant laced his daughter, wife, and God on his right arm.
Derrick Caracter
Caracter has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Devin Ebanks
Ebanks’ high school coach used to say “Make shots, not excuses,” a phrase that resonated deeply enough that two players on the team wanted to make it permanent. “He was going to get the tattoo, but I stole it,” Ebanks said in a Times West Virginian article, referring to a teammate who intended to have the phrase tattooed on his arm. “I got it before he did.”
Derek Fisher
Fish has a couple of Chinese characters tattooed on his right forearm that translate to “to be faithful in heart, mind, and spirit.”
Trey Johnson
Johnson has a tattoo on his left shoulder.
Lamar Odom
When it comes to tattoos, Odom keeps it simple: “My tattoos are just reminders of people who are close to me.”
Joe Smith
Among Smith’s tattoos is the following text on his forearm: “Only God can judge me. Rest in Peace MS2.” The text is a tribute combining the initials and jersey number of his former Timberwolves teammate Malik Sealy who was killed by a drunk driver in 2000. Former teammate Kevin Garnett has the same tribute on his arm.
Luke Walton
Better just to leave it in Walton’s own words: “The first one I got here, I got in college, and I got the Grateful Dead skeletons but with basketballs instead of canes and hats.”
Players without tattoos:
Andrew Bynum
Pau Gasol
Theo Ratiff
