Friday, July 29th, 2011 at 5:22 pm  |  88 responses

Photos: NBA Ink

Fifty of the best/worst/weirdest tattoos in the League.

Compiled by Eldon Khorshidi

Of the 433 players in the NBA last season—if this site is accurate—230 were ingrained with permanent ink. That’s about 53 percent of the League. We’re currently in an era where everybody and their grandmother has tats, whether it be three or 30. Allen Iverson “defied” social norms, serving as a revolutionary by bridging the gap between the NBA and the streets—hip-hop, earrings, tattoos, baggy clothes and everything in between—and countless others have followed in his footsteps. Above are 50 of the best/worst/weirdest (beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we’re told) tattoos from today’s NBA. Filtering out former players (i.e. Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Rasheed Wallace) was frustrating, because those guys helped develop the culture and message of tattoos, but if we incorporated the past, we’d have a never ending list. Anyways, there’s plenty of dope artwork in the gallery above. Any thoughts? Feel free to stop by the comments section and give us your two cents.

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  • Bimmer

    @Zogs: he wanted to get abe lincoln because lincoln freed the slaves. But, he thought if he just got abe lincoln, people wouldnt know who abe was. So, he added the 5′s to make it more apparent that it was indeed abe lincoln.

  • The Wize

    Deshawn thinks he’s harry potter with the lightening bolt

  • http://www.boogiewilliams.com Boing Dynasty

    Na Deshawn got that cus Lil Wayne has it & Lil Wayne got it becuase he does to much drugs.

  • Niio

    D Will’s new panther kinda looks like a big black rat? no?

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    Kirillinko and Tyson Chandler’s are the best.

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    Also, Ink my whole body I don’t give a motherf*ck.

  • http://www.twitter.com/xpotatotitsx mersh

    woaaah Tyson Chandler’s son’s portrait is awesome…makes me like that dood even more. he whipped the mavs D into shape last season. big reason for them winning the title.

  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    ^
    Tyson was the best player signed in free agency in 2010

  • Henion24

    Damn Durant, never new, but glad its covered up when you play, tats are an expression but some are just plan stupid, the ones that are family or praising the Lord make since

  • iCARNACKi

    Stevenson’s tattoos are a red P for Piru. The five dollar bill represents the Blood’s 5 point star and the ‘lightning bolt’ is actually a crack, to represent how mentally strong he sees himself as being. All the other stuff he says is just PR talk so nobody makes him cover them up.

  • odp

    tyson chandler was traded not signed. my favs were the jetts and lamarcus’s. but boozer’s looked cool

  • http://tattoodesignsideasforgirls.com/ Shelly

    kirilenko – best

  • Cmac

    Damn! Does Deshawn think he is Harry Potter or something?

  • 6marjons

    eddy curry is jus straight up embarrassing. why’d you wanna have a photo with your top off when you’re that much of a mess.

  • theDankerNuggets

    damn Chauncey Billups representing Park Hill!

  • HAMMER

    The “Kurt Cobain” tat is pretty disturbing. And I don’t know how any1 would view that as cool……AK-47′s tat almost looks like a gargoyle.

  • Shifty

    Holy moly, monta is tatoo’ed up hard!

  • Hugh Jass

    I have always thought that Richard Jefferson’s “RJ” tattoo was designed by a 2 year old.

  • Sarah

    C’mon y’all that’s Scrappy Doo. Know your cartoons! lol and AK47′s is pretty creepy. Looks a little like the one Ralph Fiennes’ character had in Red Dragon.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    I don’t get how guys can get a tattoo that is meant to represent their devotion/faith/respect to Jesus/God when the bible commandments clearly state NOT to scar/tattoo ones body.

  • dannyb

    Sure, these tattoos look great now when the players are young and cut, but what how are they going to look when they’re old and fat? Oh wait, I guess we can just look at Eddy Curry for an answer.

  • http://www.yomamajokes.com LilKDub503

    The Ten Commandments don’t say to not scar your body. It says it somewhere else, but not in the commandments.

  • nicko

    Abe Lincoln did not free the slaves because he thought it was the right thing to do. It was definitely for a political advantage. Educate yourselves people.

  • Celtics23

    Stevenson is retarded

  • Double J

    caught by surprise on a couple of these, ak47 y KD35?!

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Tyson’s son probably looks like that because sometimes little kids have problems smiling on cue. So they look like they are grimacing, but it’s cute when you’re a parent.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    And stop misquoting the Bible.

  • http://www.egay.com eGirl

    LeKing is indeed the CHOSEN1… LOL @ Paul Peers

  • http://www.slamonline.com Kyle

    Quentin Richardson’s lion tattoo over his heart symbolizing ‘Heart of a Lion’ tat, is by far my favorite.

  • vtrobot

    Juice’s skull tat is one of the best is the L.

  • http://jksldf.com Jukai

    Allen: Or maybe it is a bad tattoo…?

  • http://Slamonline.com Milez Long

    Gilberts lion is my favorite! Deshawn Stevenson is a fool! Eddy Curry needs to be locked in a room with Shaun T (Insanity Workout Guy) for 60 days! KDs tatts are cool too.

  • don

    you explained Tmac’s barbed wire tatoo, but not the one on his right arm, looks like a script or something. Monta’s look cool, like a 1-pieace sticker or something.

  • THE IRON LUNG

    so stephen jackson.. you are not a blood???? well what is that hand symbol tattoo on you stomach

  • Dubson

    Kevin Durant just recently got tatted. Follow him on Twitter and he’s been saying he’s going to get more. Do what you do man it doesn’t take away from your personality or game.

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    wow….I kinda just assumed Ron’s tat said “Queensbridge”, I can’t be the only one

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    This just isn’t the same without Sheed!

  • Courtney

    The DeShawn Stevenson tat is definitely piru. The backwards P and the 5′s. Definitely blood

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