Derrick Rose Went on a Tattoo Spree

Derrick Rose has a lot of free time on his hands right now. While the eyes of the NBA fandom are all focused on the bubble in Orlando, Rose’s Detroit Pistons have packed it in for the season. Instead of obsessing about what could have been—although we guarantee he’s already plotting a return to the postseason—Rose has been filling the hours getting tattooed. 

Rose flew his artist, Jose Guijosa, out to Arizona for the tattoo session. But you wouldn’t fly out an artist for just one tattoo, right? Of course not! Guijosa ended up giving Rose five tattoos during the session.

Let’s walk through the ink, shall we? Across his fingers, Rose tattooed “I’ll Show You.” Not only is this a personal mantra for the point guard, but it was also the title of his memoir. 

On his wrist, Rose has the letters DZY tattooed. This is a reference to his upcoming sneaker collab with Yeezy, the Deezy if you will. 

Next up, Rose had a portrait of Mansa Musa holding a gold coin tattooed onto his chest. Mansa Musa was emperor of the Mali Empire during the middle ages. Historians believe that he was the wealthiest individual in the world at the time of his reign. 

On his neck, Rose had an Egyptian hieroglyph tattooed. The hieroglyph is of Ba, the embodiment of personality to the ancient Egyptians. Ba was one of the five components of the human soul. 

Lastly, Rose had the word “Paideia” tattooed on to his sideburn. In ancient Greece, the term paideia refers to the education of a model citizen.  

Rose clearly put a lot of thought into these pieces, not to mention the legwork required to even be drawn to these designs. Clearly, these tattoos mean a lot to the Chicago native. We can’t wait to see what Rose adds next.