The Truth Behind LeBron James' Tattoos

Nowadays, the name LeBron James is synonymous with basketball. From an early age, the Ohio native showed natural talent at basketball, having earned many accolades before even graduating high school. Then, he launched straight into stardom when he was the first player picked at the 2003 NBA draft — and James was fresh out of high school, per Biography.

Throughout his impressive career, James has moved around the country, starting off with his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He then headed to Miami to help give the Heat the NBA titles in 2012 and 2013 before moving back to Cleveland to score the Cavaliers their first NBA title in 2016. He has since moved on to the Los Angeles Lakers, for whom he's played since 2018.

Under his belt, the NBA player has several records, four NBA championship wins, and two Olympic gold medals, per Olympics. But if you've ever seen "King James" play basketball or perused through his Instagram, you know he's also got tattoos — and lots of them. 

Aside from the occasional Instagram post, LeBron James rarely speaks out about his tattoos. Judging by the sheer number of them, though, it's clear he loves going underneath the tattoo gun. One of his more recent tattoos is an homage to the late Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash with his daughter in 2020. The thigh piece — seen on James' Instagram — features a large black snake with the numbers "24" and "8" and "Mamba 4 Life" inscribed below, referencing Bryant's nickname and jersey numbers.

After landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior, James had "Chosen 1" tattooed across his shoulder blades, commemorating the magazine's headline, "The Chosen One." On his front side, James dons a large winged lion on his chest, and the words "family" and "loyalty" scrawled along his left and right rib cages, according to BodyArtGuru.

James sports a majority of his tattoos along his arms. Some of the most notable ones include "Gloria" written above his lion head tattoo, honoring his mother, a portrait of his son Prince on his left forearm, and his son Bryce's name tattooed on his right forearm. On his calves, James has "Witness" written vertically with "History" on the other, referencing a 2006 Nike ad campaign. The basketball star is covered in tattoos from head to toe, and while there may be too many to keep track of, most of them relate to James' loved ones and passions.

LeBron James found his tattoos to be at the center of a legal case in 2016. The video game "NBA 2K16" features James along with other famous basketball players like Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, and James Harden. Apparently, the game's depiction of the basketball stars was so realistic that Solid Oak Sketches sued for copyright infringement, according to the New York Post.

The game's designer, Take-Two Interactive Software, made sure several of the players had their iconic tattoos, and that the tattoos were recognizable. Solid Oak Sketches, however, claimed they owned eight of the tattoos' designs in the video game, which were used without their permission.

The tattoos in the suit include James' son's portrait on his left arm, the words "On My Own," the Akron area code "330," a script with scrolls, and decorative clouds and doves. The suit also named four other tattoos on other players. However, a judge ruled in 2020 that the game makers could not be sued for replicating James' tattoos because their use was too trivial and a part of the player's likeness, per the New York Post.