3 Underrated NBA Tattoo Origin Stories

To celebrate the New Season of Ink Master, premiering Tuesday February 25 at 10/9c on Spike, the show is sponsoring “Tattoo Bracket 2014.” Vote on your favorite tattoos for your chance to win a trip for 2 to SXSW. Vote here. While you might think your ink won’t make the cut, here are three NBA examples to show you that ink is in the eye of the beholder, and sometimes only the person getting the tattoo understands why it’s important to them.

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3. DERRICK ROSE “POOHDINI”

Rose’s grandma nicknamed him “Pooh” after Winnie the Pooh bear, and his handle is like Magic’s, or the magician The Great Whodini. So Rose combined the two for “Poohdini.” He explains to TattooU below:

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2. MONTA ELLIS “FAMILY TREE”
This tattoo represents Ellis’ extended family tree as an actual tree. Angels adorn the tree’s branches over one half of his chest and his child is on the other. At the top of the tree, it says, “Family First,” and the branches continue down both his sleeves.

On his left arm, the words “Ellis Family” remind you it’s not just a deciduous tree.

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1. JASON TERRY “LARRY O’BRIEN LEPRECHAUN”

While Jason Terry famously got the Larry O’Brien trophy tattooed to his arm the year before the Mavericks won the title, he’s since gotten a Celtics tattoo in the summer of 2012 after signing there as a free agent. The piece features the Celtics Leprechaun spinning the same Larry O’Brien trophy on his finger. And Terry even got a Brooklyn tattoo after getting traded this past summer.

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No word on whether he’s getting a Kings tattoo after today’s trade, but we hope it doesn’t include the Larry O’Brien trophy because there’s no way the Kings are even sniffing the playoffs.

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(Tattoo Bracket 2014)

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