What Is LeBron James’ Chest Tattoo And What Does It Signify?

LeBron James, like several other players in the NBA, has covered a significant portion of his body in tattoos. Athletes are known for sporting ink across their bodies for various reasons. Whether it’s to signify things in their life that have great meaning or to simply look a bit cooler, everybody’s got their own reasoning. 

James was merely a high schooler when he got under the needle for the first time. After being labeled the ‘Chosen One’ by Sports Illustrated as a junior, he got the same message tattooed on himself. He did so across his upper back/shoulders. 

Surely there was influence from players at the time who also sported tatts. Most famously, guys like Allen Iverson and Dennis Rodman were known for having gotten inked. Soon enough, James was putting various messages and meaningful parts of his life all over his body.

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What tattoo does LeBron James have across his chest? 

LeBron James has a winged lion tattooed across his chest. The significance from a layman’s perspective is that James has always attributed himself to being a creature like a lion with ferocious style of play he showcases on NBA hardwood. He’s even had a lion’s head as an emblem on his Nike merchandise over the years. 

The wings of course, are a nod to his ability to soar through the air for poster dunks. This would be the layman’s interpretation of this ink. The more complicated interpretation is one that is given by BodyArtGuru. 

Here, they would go on to explain what exactly that illustration is and what its origins are. According to them, LeBron James’s chest tattoo is the lion from Saint Mark’s Gospel.  

The lion represents itself as a symbol of Venice. The winged lion however, is a symbol that closely resembles that of the Boule Group, a secretive society of elite black men. 

What other tattoos does LeBron James have? 

Many of James’s other tattoos represent important aspects of his life. He has ‘Akron’ and ‘Est 1984’ across both of his shoulder blades, in reference to his birthplace and his birth year. He has ‘Family’ and Loyalty’ across both sides of his abs.

LeBron has his mother’s name ‘Gloria’ written right above a picture of another lion on his right arm. And he recently got a tattoo in honor of Kobe Bryant on his thigh following the Lakers legend’s untimely passing.

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