Zion Williamson Gets Naruto Tattoo Around His Navel

NBA players are known to have some of the most unique and elaborate ink, everyone from Chris Anderson’s colorful sleeves that extend up his neck to Kyrie Irving‘s ink dedicated to the sitcom Friends. One of the league’s younger top players, Zion Williamson, also has an affinity for tattoos; we’ve seen the “Mount Zion” scrawled on his back and the lion encapsulated by a cross at the center of his chest. But recently, he decided to add another to his collection, and its location puts him in rarified air with Reggie Miller, who’s got an infamous sun tattoo wrapped around his navel. Adding to his growing collection, Williamson has decided to pay homage to his love for Japanese manga with a stomach tattoo signifying Naruto‘s seal.

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Naruto’s got the same tat on his stomach, a circular pattern that wraps around his navel and has eight points, representing the Eight Trigram that tames a powerful beast that lives within his body. The space between each notch allows the spirit to merge with the host, which in this case is Williamson. InkByNova, the New Orleans Pelican’s tattoo artist, showed off the new design on his Instagram, revealing that other members of Williamson’s crew also went under the needle in the past few years. “Z and his crew. 2023 – 2025 Got some stuff signed. #tattoo #neworleans I guess I have to say off season because this was recent,” reads the caption. The former Duke Blue Devil’s love for Naruto has been well-documented, and a collection for the manga even inspired a collection with Jordan Brand for his first signature show, the Zion 1. As Williamson has frustratingly faced many injuries in his young career —namely, a broken foot that led to him missing the entire 2021-22 season— he explained that taking on the spirit of Naruto during trying times helped him see the light. “I had to come to a realization,” he told GQ in 2022 of the show’s impact on his mindset. “No matter what the world is saying, I have to remember that I am who I am and stay true to that. That’s what Naruto did, and that’s what I’m going to do.” See social media’s response to Williamson’s latest tat below.

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