Nanae Yamano isn't your typical NBA fan. Yamano, a 43-year-old stay at home mom in Tokyo, Japan, discovered the NBA when looking for something to watch while she did laundry. She ended up stumbling upon a playoff matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012. Since then, Yamano has been sketching art to tell the story of the Thunder and her favorite player, Russell Westbrook. Her most recent work depicts Manu Ginobili's impact on the NBA on her popular Instagram page.

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These pictures demonstrate how Ginobli's iconic 16 year Hall of Fame career and signature euro step paved the way for talented stars like Westbrook. In the comic, Westbrook stumbles upon a trail of footsteps in the ground. After following them, he looks up to see Ginobli far ahead of him, euro stepping his way to retirement after a legendary career.

Yamano knew basically nothing about the NBA on the fateful day in 2012. Now, the NBA, the Thunder and her favorite player Westbrook take up almost all of her time. She gets her fair share of NBA content through NBA League Pass, Twitter and Instagram every day after she sends her son off to school. The NBA community has welcomed her, as she has racked up over 20,000 followers on Instagram so far.

“I grew up in the countryside. I’ve never really had a community that I belonged in. I was just a weird person—always, always,” said Yamano in an interview with Ben Cohen from The Wall Street Journal.

While the Thunder will always hold a special place in Yamano's heart, she has developed appreciation for everything Ginobili has done for basketball. He helped inspire a generation of stars that will sculpt the future of the league.