J.R. Smith talks about his 3,000 tattoos.

Okay, I might have exaggerated a little bit, but it is not actually hard to believe he has that many.

All Photos by Tom Heisler/The New York Times

J.R. Smith has by far the most tattoos on his upper body than any other NBA player and actually doesn't regret any of them. Here is a little story about the history of his ink.

From NYT:

Q. How many did you have before you think you lost count (of your tattoos)?

A. It was around 70-something. 

Q. How many tattoo parlors do you think you have been in?

A. Probably a thousand. I’ve been to so many where I didn’t get a tattoo. Sometimes I watch or go in to see what’s new. It really depends on how I feel. 

Being in the NBA, he probably have been to a tattoo parlor in every single city in America (well, that has a NBA team). Making it a pretty cool future Grandpa story.

Q. Which tattoo took the longest and how long was that?

A. My back. It took a day to do the outlining. I didn’t finish it until a few years later.

Q. Were you excited when it was done?

A. I wasn’t really excited. I was actually kind of mad because I wanted to do so much more stuff to it, but I had no more space.

 That sucks, after spending years to complete a tattoo, he wasn't excited because he had no space left to do anything else. Really?  Your back already looks like a street mural.

Q. Is there one tattoo that you wish you could remove?

A. I love all of my tattoos. 

Q. Were you always fascinated with tattoos? When did it start?

A. I actually hated tattoos. I told myself I would never get like this.

 

Q. When did it all change?

A. Once I got one, I was addicted.

Admitting is the first step, man. You will regret it once you get older and your tattoo stretches out because of the beer belly you develop after retirement.

All Photos by Tom Heisler/The New York Times

At this point is basically just one giant tattoo right? I wonder what is the percentage of his skin that is not inked, can someone figure it out for me?