LeBron James is a basketball legend. (imago Images)
LeBron James sports a number of tattoos, but just how many are there, and what do they say?
LeBron James is arguably the most famous NBA star playing basketball right now. Compared with the likes of Michael Jordan and the late great Kobe Bryant, James is one of the best to ever do it, on and off the court.
On top of his domination inside the basketball court, his charitable activities and political viewpoints make him an idol for many. And the fact that he is a pretty cool cat also makes him famous amongst fans of this generation.
James is pretty up-to-date with his wardrobe and also sports a vast number of tattoos across his body. Approximately, ‘The King’ reportedly has 24 separate tattoos from his head to toes. And here, we find out more about them.
Starting with legs, James has ‘WITNESS’ on his right calf which he got inked in 2006 after a Nike campaign with the same word. And to match it, he got ‘HISTORY’ written across his right calf 4 years later.
James has a ‘CHOSEN 1’ tatted across his back which he got in 2002 after Sports Illustrated featured him on the cover, which was titled ‘the Chosen One’. He has Est 1984 on his left shoulder, which signifies when he was born, and a winged lion on his chest which is from Saint Mark’s Gospel.
James has a plethora of tattoos on his arms. His left and right triceps have the ‘L’ and J’ tattoos after the initials of his name, while the top of his left arm has multiple stars surrounding his ‘Beast’ tattoo and above his ‘Hold My Own’ inking.
His left arm features a portrait of his son, Prince James Jr. while the right arm has a ‘Gloria’ tattoo after his mother, which is just above his Lion Head tattoo. James’ most badass tats are probably the ones on his left and right biceps, which read “what we do in life”, “echoes in eternity” respectively.
The Los Angeles Lakers star’s chest also has ‘gifted child’ written across it, while the inside of his right forearm reads “No one can see through what I am except for the one that made me”. He also has 330 on his right forearm, which is near the ‘Bryce Maximus’ tattoo, after the name of his second son.
Now we get to the last few tattoos. ‘Family’ is written across his right rib, while ‘Loyalty’ is written on his left rib. His most recent tattoo came in 2020, which was the ‘Black Mamba’ tattoo on his thigh. It was, of course, in honour of his late friend, Kobe Bryant, who passed away that year.
Phew, we guess that was all of it. A lot of tattoos indeed, over the space of nearly 18 years. His entire has come to become an autobiography that tells the story of his life; from the time he broke through in high school, to his peak in sports and as a father, and then the sad demise of his great friend.
But who had the honour of inking James so many times? And not to mention, pocket a fair few dollars in that time… well, that honour goes to a Los Angeles tattoo artist that goes by the Instagram handle of ‘@gangatattoo‘.
Now, of course, he wouldn’t have done all of his tattoos during his life considering LeBron has been getting inked for almost 2 decades now. But he is the most recent one and the artist that LeBron has frequently visited in the past few years for his latest tatts.
You would gather just how close they are considering James gave his tattoo artist a tattoo himself. He made a small crown on the artist’s left forearm. Just what can’t LeBron do?
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