25 Weirdest Tattoos in the NBA Today

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If you play in the NBA today, chances are you have at least one tattoo.

Be it a simple Chinese character to cartoon characters to stuff that just doesn't make sense, body art has become a part of the game's culture and has a big role among the current generation of players.

I don't have any tattoos myself, thanks to a petrifying fear of needles, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the art that some players have had permanently etched onto themselves. Today, we celebrate that and the weirdness surrounding it.

Here, in no particular order, are 25 of the oddest tattoos in the game today.

Nikola Pekovic's Medieval Knight

Photo courtesy of totalprosports.com

I'm all for historical tattoos, and Pekovic's knight looks pretty sweet on his arm. Regarding his reason for having it, I'm guessing it's one of two.

Either he has a great appreciation for medieval history, or he's a huge fan of Game of Thrones.

Carlos Delfino's Basketball Gremlin

Photo courtesy of totalprosports.com

On one of his arms, Delfino has a pretty badass dragon. Slightly below that, he felt it important to add a creepy-looking creature that looks like it's free-falling with a basketball.

My best guess is that Delfino is getting light-headed from playing such tight defense on guys, and that this demonic creature is what he sees when dehydrated. Thoughts, everybody?

Marcin Gortat's Mutant Santa Claus

Well, now we know where the Grinch went after he stole Christmas. Looks like he grew a beard and parked himself on Gortat's bicep!

Wilson Chandler's Love for X-Men

photo courtesy of mademan.com

OK, Wilson. So you have Juggernaut on your back. Does this mean we can expect Magneto or Wolverine on your chest soon?

Udonis Haslem's Home-State Pride

Photo courtesy of thehoopdoctors.com

Well, I think we know what Haslem's favorite state in the Union is. Then again, it makes sense. He grew up in Jacksonville and Miami, went to the University of Florida and has spent his entire career with the Miami Heat.

Guess this means he can only play for the Orlando Magic, should he leave South Beach.

Carmelo Anthony's Throwback TV Network

Photo courtesy of clubseatsports.com

Hey, Melo, you DO know that the WB network folded in 2006, right? Unless that small bit of ink is an homage to the old Warner Bros. logo, it just seems out of place!

Brad Miller & Man's Best Friend?

Photo courtesy of inkedcelebrity.com

There are so many great cartoon dogs out there, from Brian Griffin to Huckleberry Hound, but apparently they aren't cool enough for Brad Miller. Instead, he chose to get Scrappy Doo etched onto his arm.

For those who don't know him, Scrappy is Scooby Doo's unbelievably irritating sidekick and nowhere close to remotely awesome. What was Miller thinking???

Deron Williams' Big Bad Panther

From all the research I've done, that giant black mass on D-Will's arm is supposed to be a panther. From where I'm sitting, it just looks like a black mess.

Then again, Williams DOES associate with the Brooklyn Nets, so perhaps it's fitting!

Jermaine O'Neal and His Future Plans

Photo courtesy of totalprosports.com

You can't really tell, but O'Neal has a tattoo on his arm that features himself holding the world and proclaiming "The World is Mine."

Does this mean that he plans on becoming an evil super-genius once he retires? If he is and his skills at being evil are at all similar to what he does on the court today, I don't think we should be too concerned.

Jameer Nelson's Proclamation

Photo courtesy of magicbasketballonline.com

Jameer Nelson's back proclaims "All Eyes On Me," so I have a piece of advice for him. If you want that to be the case, Jameer, get the hell out of Dwight Howard's shadow in Orlando.

Luke Walton Puts His Skills in Ink

Photo courtesy of athletetattoodatabase.com

On his right arm, Walton has four stick figures playing basketball. If you think about it, it's kind of the exact definition of how he plays the game!

Marcin Gortat's Possible Copyright Infringement

Photo courtesy of ahbald.blogspot.com

Sorry, Marcin, but just having a logo associated with Michael Jordan tattooed onto you won't give you his talent. It will, however, piss off your sponsors at Reebok!

Goofy Guy on Marcin Gortat's Chest

Photo courtesy of tumblr.com

And while you're at it, Marcin, lose the image of John Ritter in boxing gloves. I don't know what it's all about, but it creeps the living daylights out of me.

Kenyon Martin's Intensity

Photo courtesy of athletetattoodatabase.com

K-Mart is someone I would never want to make angry, and this tattoo is a great reason why. The imagery is just so intimidating and gothic that you can just tell the body art belongs to an intense person.

Given the placement of the tattoo itself, I can imagine that Martin must get like this when someone upsets him.

DeShawn Stevenson's Homage to Honest Abe

Photo courtesy of truthaboutit.net

Well, nothing says interesting like two fives and a sketch of Abraham Lincoln on your neck.  In Stevenson's case, my guess is he just loves our 16th president or the number five. I say we flip a coin and pick a winner.

Andrei Kirilenko and His Love of Warcraft

Photo courtesy of kotaku.com

Kirilenko isn't on an NBA roster right now, but this tattoo is just too weird to not include. What the Russian forward has done is dedicate his entire back to the online game World of Warcraft.

I've heard of being obsessed with video games, but this is just plain ridiculous.

Monta Ellis's Creepy Tree

Photo courtesy of larrybrownsports.com

Hmmmm...what do I see in this picture? I see the floating head of Ellis's son and a tree that looks like it belongs in the front yard of the Wicked Witch of the West.

I can understand the sentimental message behind it, but it's a bit too intense and just plain creepy in my eyes.

JR Smith and "Young Money"

Photo courtesy of youngmoneyhq.com

Smith has tons of body art, but this is a neck tattoo and is thus automatically weird. I understand how his logo is supposed to be YM for "Young Money," but it really just looks like he got the New York Yankees logo instead.

Then again, he's from New Jersey, so it's kind of fitting.

JR Smith's Literal Backstory

Photo courtesy of iamagm.com

I've seen some crazy back tattoos in my life, but this one looks like a ridiculous movie poster. I don't even want to know how much it cost Smith to get the entire thing done, let alone how long it took him to sketch it out.

Marquis Daniels and the Morbidly Curious Cartoon

Photo courtesy of naptownsfinest.com

Um....yeah. This one is just plain frightening. Why Daniels got it at all is a mystery to me.

It's not just a weird tattoo. It borders on the disturbing.

Chauncey Billups' Favorite TV Show?

Photo courtesy of inkedcelebrity.com

After seeing that Billups had a tattoo of this, I had a crazy idea. He should reenact this scene with George Karl, Carmelo Anthony and Rasheed Wallace. Can you imagine how well it could do on YouTube??

Amar'e Stoudemire's Tear

Photo courtesy of larrybrownsports.com

This tattoo is a bit weird, but in a touching and surreal sort of way. Stoudemire's brother Hazell died in a car accident this season, and while the All-Star forward was away from the team, he got this simple tattoo on his face.

Personally, I think facial tattoos are a bit much. Still, this one is small, subtle and so unbelievably moving that you can't help but love it.

DeShawn Stevenson's Back Snake

Photo courtesy of bothteamsplayedhard.net

Alright, question time. Just what is Stevenson trying to say through this tattoo? That a snake had an accident on his back one time and now he's honoring it with ink?

No matter how you look at it, this tattoo is just weird. It's as though Stevenson wanted to always be wearing a jersey, in some weird way.

Chris Andersen's Bodily Masterpiece

Photo courtesy of sportygirlnation.com

Andersen is a weird guy, as most people with this much tattoo work tend to be.

From having "Free Bird" tattooed on both sides of his neck to the rest of his painted body, there's no picking just one weird tattoo here. You have to have the whole thing or none at all.

Chris Bosh's Back Disaster

Bosh's tattoo is such a mishmosh of subjects, I don't even know how to begin analyzing it. In one corner, you have musical notes below a mysterious woman.

Then, you have a creepy tree with an odd-looking bird. Somewhere in the midst of all this, there's a scary woman cradling a skull and looking menacing.

Call me crazy, but maybe this is what Bosh sees in his head after flopping to the floor so many times and banging his head on the hardwood? After taking some shots to the head, I'd sure as hell see some creepy imagery.