Why 156 people got NBA backup Naz Reid’s name tattooed on their bodies

“Naz Reid.”

In just the past week, the name of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ player has landed, permanently, on the legs, arms and fingers of 156 of his biggest fans (and counting). As summer nears in the upper Midwest, a Naz Reid tattoo is becoming the accessory of the season.

The funny thing about it? Naz Reid isn’t the team’s best player. In fact, he doesn’t even start.

But to JC Stroebel, the ink entrepreneur behind the frenzy, Reid, a backup center with an out-of-nowhere story, best sums up the city’s underdog ethos. The Timberwolves have never won a championship. Their last playoff series win, before they swept the Phoenix Suns in Round 1, came two decades ago.

Now, with the team still alive in the postseason, its long-suffering fans are reveling in a rare moment of success.

The story begins with an unlikely spark of inspiration.

One night last week, Stroebel, an apprentice tattoo artist at Beloved Studios in Roseville, Minn., was watching the Wolves throttle the defending champion Denver Nuggets, fist-pumping and cheering as much as possible without waking his wife and child.

So he found a quieter, and not particularly thought-out, way to celebrate. He opened up his X app and impulsively typed:

“Will tattoo ‘Naz Reid’ on anyone for $20,” Stroebel wrote. “I’m dead serious.”

Stroebel picked Reid over other more obvious candidates, such as Anthony Edwards, the team’s star guard. Why? Minnesotans have been captivated by Reid’s long-shot tale: he hadn’t even been selected in the NBA draft when he left LSU in 2019. This season he won the Sixth Man of the Year trophy, for the best backup in the entire league.

Plus, Stroebel said, “We would not be able to charge $20 if we were tattooing ‘Nickeil Alexander-Walker’ on everybody.”

The next day, Stroebel’s message went viral and appointment requests began rolling into the small, independent shop. “Dude,” Stroebel told fellow apprentice, Jesse George. “We’re about to be really busy.”

That turned out to be an understatement.

In the days since, Stroebel, George and some other Beloved artists have inked “Naz Reid” on flesh at a dizzying pace—as many as 50 a day over the weekend—as the city clamors to commemorate a player embodying the Wolves’ surge.

One recent Saturday, Stroebel’s mother arrived bearing lunch for the hardworking crew—and ended up getting “Naz Reid” tattooed across her ankle. Sue Stroebel had been moved by Reid saying he pursued basketball in part so his own mom wouldn’t have to walk to work. “What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day,” she said, “than to honor his mom?”

Stroebel and George, both Minnesota born and bred, found an instant Timberwolves connection when they joined Beloved about a year ago. They’d weathered the team’s worst years with their enthusiasm intact, enduring lineups they’d sooner erase from memory.

A few months ago, as the Timberwolves emerged as one of the NBA’s best teams, Stroebel immortalized their bond by tattooing a whistle-wearing songbird on George’s leg—a “portrait” of Minnesota head coach Chris Finch.

The duo have long joked they want to be “the official tattoo artists of the Minnesota Timberwolves,” but they never expected an off-the-cuff tweet to catapult them into the epicenter of the passionate fan base. “We’ve embraced the moment,” Stroebel said.

These days, it is as if all of the Twin Cities is jostling for an appointment at Beloved. Geraldine Mannie, who watches every Timberwolves game, got her first tattoo, a “Naz Reid,” at the age of 82.

Jackson Hurst, a 23-year-old student and superfan, already had tattoos honoring his mom and dad; Reid, he declared, completed the trifecta of “the three most important people in my life.”

Minnesota fans, no strangers to heartbreak, aren’t worried the tattoo will age poorly. If anything, Stroebel said, they know how fleeting success can be, and want to memorialize this run, come what may. Still, Stroebel and George are saving their own “Naz Reids” for last—hopefully, after a championship.

Reid’s growing stardom goes beyond tattoos. When he rises from the bench to check into a Timberwolves game, he receives louder applause than the starters. One of the team’s hottest giveaways this season was a Naz Reid beach towel. A local pizza shop’s “HONK IF YOU LOVE NAZ REID” sign has turned the block into a cacophony of car horns.

Around Minneapolis, his name has become a new lingua franca. “Naz Reid?” one fan can ask another, walking down the street. “Naz Reid!” comes the reply.

“Naz Reid,” tweeted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz after a recent Timberwolves win.

After Reid went undrafted following his freshman LSU season, the Timberwolves signed him to a contract for players who bounce between the big league and the minors. But Reid’s swagger on the court quickly made him impossible to ignore.

Despite his 6-foot-9 frame, Reid can handle the basketball and shoot like a smaller guard, making him a nightmare for defenders more used to battling big players close to the basket. Last summer, the Timberwolves signed the former afterthought to a new $42 million deal—enough for two million tattoos.

When asked if he’d pressure his teammates to get their own “Naz Reid” tattoos should the Wolves win the championship, the man behind the ink didn’t flinch. “100 percent,” Reid cracked.

-- The Wall Street Journal