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Naked Serge Ibaka is on the cover of ESPN Body 2014

Serge Ibaka is one of the truly remarkable athletes in the NBA, and he is now featured in ESPN's annual "Body Issue."

(Peter Hapak/ESPN the Magazine

Russell Westbrook just launched his own eyewear brand, and Serge Ibaka apparently wanted to get into the act too, but instead took his clothes off for the ESPN "Body 2014" issue.

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(Peter Hapak/ESPN the Magazine)

After all the work Ibaka had been doing in the gym, he probably wanted to show us how his body is progressing.

Interesting New Facts About Serge Ibaka:

  • Ibaka became one of the sixth athletes to appear on this year's cover, including Texas Rangers first baseman Prince Fielder, U.S Olympic slopestyle snowboarding champion Jamie Anderson, Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshwan Lynch, and tennis player Venus Williams.
  • Ibaka Is now the 6th NBA player to appear on the cover of ESPN body issue magazine joining Dwight Howard (2009), Stoudemire (2010), Blake Griffin (2011), Tyson Chandler (2012), and Kenneth Faried (2013).

Serge Ibaka's Interview with ESPN Magazine

''I told them, "Hell no, no surgery." [The doctors] told me I was going to be out for the rest of the playoffs: "The MRI showed that you are bleeding a lot in your calf and you're going to be out the rest of the playoffs." But my heart was telling me, "You're going to be back."

'' I didn't want to believe that God could let me down like that. I said "I'm not just going to sit back and watch the rest of the playoffs at home." I wasn't listening to them. They told me "This is dangerous, this is serious; you can't play like that." I was like, "Man, excuse me, I'm about to play. This is too early to happen to me. (1) I'm not getting surgery, and (2) Trust me, I'm going to be back to play. At least one game, at least Game 7 or Game 6 or whatever, I will play."

'' I wish I had more body parts that I could work out. If I had my way, I'd be in the gym all day. I love to lift. When I don't have basketball practice, I'll be in a gym for 2.5 hours - 30 minutes abs, 2 hours lifting ''

'' If you put some work in, you can have this body. It's not because all basketball players have this body, no. I have this kind of body because I put a lot of work into it. I work out a lot. ''