This Bald, Tattooed Macedonian Basketball Player Is The NBA's Next Great Cult Hero

The Atlanta Hawks have reportedly signed 30-year-old Macedonian power forward Pero Antic, who last played for the European champions Olympiacos in Greece.

Antic looks like a player you'd create in a videogame. He's 6'11" and bald, with a thick black beard and two arms full of black tattoos. He has the shreds of a Macedonian flag tattooed on his chest, interspersed with black clouds.

In his career he has won two Euroleague titles, two Bulgarian titles and two Greek league titles. He's an enforcer and a defender with such a limited offensive skillset (he only averaged 6 points per game last year) that his Wikipedia entry includes this fantastic sentence:

"While he's not a prolific scorer, he also possesses decent passing skills, adding to his offensive contribution."

Wikipedia adds that he has the same birthday as his wife, Ruzica.

He's currently in some sort of feud with fans who think he talked trash on Olympiacos coach Georgios Bartzokas:

I dont know where did i write something against Bardzokas?!?in which tweet i sayed his name!! Some people can only hate..

— Pero Antic (@antic12pero) July 21, 2013

In 2007, he was reportedly expelled from the Macedonian national team training camp for assaulting a teammate.

The Hawks have a history of big, ill-mannered enforcers from overseas. Georgian center Zaza Pachulia (who left Atlanta in free agency) liked to mix it up with opposing big men. Ivan Johnson, who will be Antic's teammate, was kicked out of the Korean League for flipping off a referee before joining the Hawks.

He previously had this beard arrangement before letting it grow out:

The guy has all the attributes of a top-notch NBA cult figure: