San Antonio Spurs, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 without)
The Spurs saw their tattoo percentage go down from last year.
Players with tattoos:
DeJuan Blair
Blair has the text “Don’t make excuses make plays” and “Give glory to God” tattooed across his neck and shoulders.
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Photographer John Webster shared a great photo of Green over the summer that shows his “I Hold My Own” tattoo and the text tattooed over Green’s heart.
Kawhi Leonard
Leonard was 17 when his father was shot and killed. The following year, he added a tattoo in tribute on his right arm, as reported by the LA Times in 2009.
Tracy McGrady
McGrady, who has suffered a lot of criticism from announcers and analysts, has a response on his right shoulder, just below a speeding basketball and his nickname. Against a curled scroll, a poignant bit of scripture: “AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEE IN JUDGEMENT SHALL BE COMDEMNED—ISAIAH 54:17.”
Tony Parker
When Parker and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, Longoria initially denied having her tattoo of Parker’s jersey number removed, but TMZ reports that she had it removed in 2012.
Players without tattoos:
Aron Baynes
Matt Bonner
Nando De Colo
Boris Diaw
Manu Ginobili
Cory Joseph
Patty Mills
Gary Neal
Tiago Splitter
San Antonio Spurs, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 players without tattoos)
The Spurs have one less tattooed players than last year. DeJuan Blair is their only really heavily tattooed player, but the surprise of Tim Duncan’s tattoos and the stressfulness of Stephen Jackson’s tattoos keeps their team remarkable.
Players with tattoos:
James Anderson
Anderson has a tattoo on his left bicep.
DeJuan Blair
A Spurs Talk thread from last year gathers up all of the now-deleted photos from Blair’s twitter feed of his tattoos, including the incredible ones on his hands.
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Green has tattoos on both arms.
Stephen Jackson
Proud owner of one of the most hectic tattoos in the league: the standard praying hands on his stomach, but in this design the hands cradle an automatic handgun. When asked about the tattoo’s significance, Jackson explained the design is literal: “I pray I never have to use it again.”
Kawhi Leonard
Leonard has a pretty elaborate cross design on his right shoulder.
Tony Parker
When Parker and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, Longoria initially denied having her tattoo of Parker’s jersey number removed, but TMZ reports that she had it removed this year.
Players without tattoos:
Matt Bonner
Justin Dentmon
Boris Diaw
Manu Ginobili
Cory Joseph
Patty Mills
Gary Neal
Tiago Splitter
No longer on roster:
Eric Dawson: no tattoos
T.J. Ford: no tattoos
San Antonio Spurs, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 53% (8 players with tattoos, 7 without)
There’s a famous story about how the 2003 Finals had the all-time lowest ratings ever, a nadir generally attributed to the boredom inspired by the Spurs. I’m tempted to draw a correlation to their tattoos. Certainly they have their share of bummers, but for me, they’re outweighed by emotional tributes and really hectic designs. Really the only reason to hate the Spurs is Tony Parker’s eyebrows.
—
Players with tattoos:
James Anderson
Anderson has a tattoo on his left shoulder that Popovich can’t get enough of.
DeJuan Blair
Blair came into the league with a couple of tattoos, but in the last year he’s filled in all of the space between his early work. He’s been posting photos on Twitter of his newest designs, including this one on his hands.
Da’Sean Butler
Last summer, Butler announced he had gotten a new tattoo on his back via Twitter, and changed his Twitter background to a photo of the design which reads, “BUTLER The Boy Wonder.”
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Green has a couple of tattoos on his arms.
George Hill
A sweet George Hill story: Hill grew up in Indianapolis and upon graduating high school, received several college scholarship offers, including Indiana University and Temple. He chose to stay in Indianapolis and attend Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) so he could remain close with his ailing great-grandfather, Gilbert Edison. His great-grandfather died before the school year began, theoretically giving Hill the option to switch to a bigger program, but in honor of the man, who always taught him to be a man of his word, Hill remained at IUPUI. He later got a tattoo of a cross piercing a basketball alongside his great-grandfather’s name in tribute.
Richard Jefferson
One of the most universally derided tattoos in the league, Jefferson’s left shoulder is marked with his initials, which are circled with some cursive text reading “God Family Brothers Parents.” But like elementary school cursive, not the script that most tattoos tend towards. Also the white space in the letter R is a basketball. Looks a lot like it was drawn for/by a child.
Tony Parker
When he and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, TMZ alleged that Longoria had the tattoo removed, although she denied it in interviews.
Players without tattoos:
Matt Bonner
Manu Ginobili: Ginobili told an Argentine magazine that the only thing he thinks important enough to get a tattoo of is perhaps the name of your child, and that people inevitably regret tattoos and they’re too expensive (“A mí no me gustan. Aunque por ahí un día se me ocurre tatuarme algo importante como el nombre de un hijo. Por ahora no siento esa necesidad. Pienso que, tarde o temprano, uno se arrepiente. Y cuesta sacarlo”).
Antonio McDyess
Gary Neal
Steve Novak
Chris Quinn
Tiago Splitter
San Antonio Spurs, 2012-13
Tattoo percentage: 40% (6 players with tattoos, 9 without)
The Spurs saw their tattoo percentage go down from last year.
Players with tattoos:
DeJuan Blair
Blair has the text “Don’t make excuses make plays” and “Give glory to God” tattooed across his neck and shoulders.
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Photographer John Webster shared a great photo of Green over the summer that shows his “I Hold My Own” tattoo and the text tattooed over Green’s heart.
Kawhi Leonard
Leonard was 17 when his father was shot and killed. The following year, he added a tattoo in tribute on his right arm, as reported by the LA Times in 2009.
Tracy McGrady
McGrady, who has suffered a lot of criticism from announcers and analysts, has a response on his right shoulder, just below a speeding basketball and his nickname. Against a curled scroll, a poignant bit of scripture: “AND EVERY TONGUE THAT SHALL RISE UP AGAINST THEE IN JUDGEMENT SHALL BE COMDEMNED—ISAIAH 54:17.”
Tony Parker
When Parker and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, Longoria initially denied having her tattoo of Parker’s jersey number removed, but TMZ reports that she had it removed in 2012.
Players without tattoos:
Aron Baynes
Matt Bonner
Nando De Colo
Boris Diaw
Manu Ginobili
Cory Joseph
Patty Mills
Gary Neal
Tiago Splitter
San Antonio Spurs, 2011-12
Tattoo percentage: 47% (7 players with tattoos, 8 players without tattoos)
The Spurs have one less tattooed players than last year. DeJuan Blair is their only really heavily tattooed player, but the surprise of Tim Duncan’s tattoos and the stressfulness of Stephen Jackson’s tattoos keeps their team remarkable.
Players with tattoos:
James Anderson
Anderson has a tattoo on his left bicep.
DeJuan Blair
A Spurs Talk thread from last year gathers up all of the now-deleted photos from Blair’s twitter feed of his tattoos, including the incredible ones on his hands.
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Green has tattoos on both arms.
Stephen Jackson
Proud owner of one of the most hectic tattoos in the league: the standard praying hands on his stomach, but in this design the hands cradle an automatic handgun. When asked about the tattoo’s significance, Jackson explained the design is literal: “I pray I never have to use it again.”
Kawhi Leonard
Leonard has a pretty elaborate cross design on his right shoulder.
Tony Parker
When Parker and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, Longoria initially denied having her tattoo of Parker’s jersey number removed, but TMZ reports that she had it removed this year.
Players without tattoos:
Matt Bonner
Justin Dentmon
Boris Diaw
Manu Ginobili
Cory Joseph
Patty Mills
Gary Neal
Tiago Splitter
No longer on roster:
Eric Dawson: no tattoos
T.J. Ford: no tattoos
San Antonio Spurs, 2010-11
Tattoo percentage: 53% (8 players with tattoos, 7 without)
There’s a famous story about how the 2003 Finals had the all-time lowest ratings ever, a nadir generally attributed to the boredom inspired by the Spurs. I’m tempted to draw a correlation to their tattoos. Certainly they have their share of bummers, but for me, they’re outweighed by emotional tributes and really hectic designs. Really the only reason to hate the Spurs is Tony Parker’s eyebrows.
—
Players with tattoos:
James Anderson
Anderson has a tattoo on his left shoulder that Popovich can’t get enough of.
DeJuan Blair
Blair came into the league with a couple of tattoos, but in the last year he’s filled in all of the space between his early work. He’s been posting photos on Twitter of his newest designs, including this one on his hands.
Da’Sean Butler
Last summer, Butler announced he had gotten a new tattoo on his back via Twitter, and changed his Twitter background to a photo of the design which reads, “BUTLER The Boy Wonder.”
Tim Duncan
A renowned Dungeons and Dragons player, Duncan has a wizard tattooed on his chest and a jester on his back.
Danny Green
Green has a couple of tattoos on his arms.
George Hill
A sweet George Hill story: Hill grew up in Indianapolis and upon graduating high school, received several college scholarship offers, including Indiana University and Temple. He chose to stay in Indianapolis and attend Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) so he could remain close with his ailing great-grandfather, Gilbert Edison. His great-grandfather died before the school year began, theoretically giving Hill the option to switch to a bigger program, but in honor of the man, who always taught him to be a man of his word, Hill remained at IUPUI. He later got a tattoo of a cross piercing a basketball alongside his great-grandfather’s name in tribute.
Richard Jefferson
One of the most universally derided tattoos in the league, Jefferson’s left shoulder is marked with his initials, which are circled with some cursive text reading “God Family Brothers Parents.” But like elementary school cursive, not the script that most tattoos tend towards. Also the white space in the letter R is a basketball. Looks a lot like it was drawn for/by a child.
Tony Parker
When he and Eva Longoria got married, they both got tattoos of their wedding date. In the aftermath of their breakup, TMZ alleged that Longoria had the tattoo removed, although she denied it in interviews.
Players without tattoos:
Matt Bonner
Manu Ginobili: Ginobili told an Argentine magazine that the only thing he thinks important enough to get a tattoo of is perhaps the name of your child, and that people inevitably regret tattoos and they’re too expensive (“A mí no me gustan. Aunque por ahí un día se me ocurre tatuarme algo importante como el nombre de un hijo. Por ahora no siento esa necesidad. Pienso que, tarde o temprano, uno se arrepiente. Y cuesta sacarlo”).
Antonio McDyess
Gary Neal
Steve Novak
Chris Quinn
Tiago Splitter
