NBA star Markelle Fultz is taking Wakanda Forever literally ... he just got a foot-long image of the Black Panther tattooed on his thigh -- and it's AMAZING!!
TMZ Sports has learned back in the summer, Fultz hit up "Ink Master" star Roly T-Rex about getting some ink done.
And, with Chadwick Boseman's death and the Black Lives Matter movement at its peak ... the two got to thinking a "Black Panther" piece would be perfect.
According to Roly T-Rex, the artwork -- featuring a stern Black Panther surrounded by lightning -- embodied BLM's message and paid tribute to the late Boseman .