Tale of My (Chinese) Tattoo

MARCUS CAMBY
Nuggets Forward

The upper tattoo on his right arm means strive to be the best. The one below it means clan -- which for Camby shows love for his family. "I was one of the originators of the Chinese characters," says Camby, who broke into the NBA in 1996. "When I got it as a rookie, I don't remember a lot of people having them. [These characters] seemed like a no-brainer. I want to be the best. And I've got a lot of love for my family." But why in Chinese? "I was into a lot of Chinese flicks," he explains, "a lot of [kung fu] movies."

LARRY HUGHES
Cavaliers Guard

"I didn't want words, and I didn't want something that was too big," says the 27-year-old Hughes, who got the Chinese symbol for loyalty encased in a burning basketball tattooed just above his right ankle when he was 16. Says Hughes, who signed with the Cavs last summer, "It's about loyalty to the game and loyalty to myself. [Actually], I can put anything that has to do with me in the context of that tattoo. Family, friends, basketball. I feel like I am a loyal person in whatever it may be."

JEFF MCINNIS
Nets Guard

The tat on his right arm means Jeff -- the name of McInnis's five-year-old son. On the left? A state of bliss. "Me and my son are blessed. I got them two years ago," says McInnis, who was careful to make sure the symbols meant what he thought they meant. (The Bulls' Tyson Chandler says he checked with Yao Ming before getting a Chinese tattoo meaning love.) "I got the dictionary and looked mine up," says McInnis. "Some people don't know what theirs mean. They just get them because they look good."

Photographs by Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images; John Biever/SI; Ron Hoskins/NBAE/Getty Images

Issue date: March 6, 2006