LeBron James & Bang Bang

©Bang Bang/Instagram

LeBron James is a pretty cool guy, and beyond all the achievements and honors he’s earned throughout his NBA career, he seems like someone many folks would tend to get along with. However, like many professional athletes, breaking into James’ inner circle isn’t easy, especially if you don’t have a unique connection to him. Famous tattoo artist Bang Bang didn’t exactly have that, but he still managed to find his way into James’ clique anyways.

Bang Bang was vetted by LeBron before joining his inner circle

Bang Bang is a reasonably famous tattoo artist with a handful of high-profile celebrity clients, but it took time for him to be accepted by James, who has a lot of tattoos done by different artists. It turns out a surprising mutual connection helped Bang Bang meet James, which he likely thought would be enough to get him in James’ good graces. But that did not end up being the case, with Bang Bang revealing that James vetted him out to ensure he was cool before allowing him into his inner circle.

“I met LeBron five, six years ago through a mutual friend who’s in his close circle, and they work on ‘The Shop’ together, and he was vetting me to make sure I’m cool to be in the circle. LeBron flew me to his house, when he was in Cleveland. We tattooed in his basement.” – Bang Bang, GQ Sports

Bang Bang reveals his favorite LeBron tattoo

It’s not a total surprise to see that James is selective with whom he hangs out, but it is a bit funny to see that it took his own tattoo artist a while to get accepted by James. However, Bang Bang did get in and has been close to James for the past few years. Given how many tattoos James has, though, it’s clear that one artist didn’t do them all, so Bang Bang revealed which tattoo of James that he didn’t do is his favorite.

“LeBron’s got a bunch of tattoos. He’s got a bunch of really iconic tattoos as well…I think my favorite tattoo on LeBron, other than the one I did of course, if his ‘Chosen’ one. I think there’s something really poetic in embracing the pressure, and I think no one in the history of sports has had the pressure that LeBron James has. He was the chosen one when he was in eighth grade, everybody knew he’d be great, and that’s a really hard thing to live up to.” – Bang Bang, GQ Sports

James’ “Chosen” tattoo is one of his most iconic pieces, and Bang Bang’s explanation for his selection makes a lot of sense. James has had a spotlight on him throughout his entire life, but he hasn’t shied away from it for a minute, which has helped spark his legendary basketball career. It’s neat to get a bit of a closer inside look at James through his tattoo artist, and maybe they will be collaborating again in the future on more artwork.