Words & Photography by Michael Kinney
OKLAHOMA CITY– The first thing anyone needs to know about Nanae Yamano is that she doesn’t like the term “Super Fan.” Even though that title has been bestowed upon her by the same Oklahoma City Thunder franchise she has spurred on for more than a decade from thousands of miles away, the Japan native cringes when she hears it applied to her name.
Yet, it’s hard not to consider Yamano worthy of the title. In the past 12 years, she went from a basketball novice to a social media sensation with more than 31,000 followers on Instagram (perspective_7A) who flock to her page immediately after each game to see her Thunder-inspired cartoon-style artwork.
“I feel unsettled when people call me Super,” Yamano said partly through an interpreter. “I feel like I’m a normal fan, not super. For myself, Superfan means they spend more money on tickets, on a jersey and stuff like that. I don’t buy stuff. I’m just drawing the pictures.”
But don’t tell that to the hundreds of Oklahoma City Thunder fans who lined up to get Yamano’s autograph and take selfies with her before Game 1 and 2 of the Thunder first-round series with the New Orleans Pelicans. They were only the third and fourth games she’s ever attended.
“I’m happy that there are so many people who are enjoying my drawing with me. I also wonder why people understand,” said Yamano, who speaks very little English. “We can understand each other even though we have different backgrounds, culture differences, and language differences.”
The Thunder franchise flew Yamano to Oklahoma to be on hold for the start of the playoffs because she has become such a huge hit among the fan base. They even had her introduce the t-shirts that were given to fans for Game 2.
Yet, Yamano’s journey to becoming one of Oklahoma City’s most well-known fans began almost by accident. It started in 2012 when the team played against the San Antonio Spurs during the Western Conference Finals.
At that point in Yamano’s life, she not only knew nothing about the Thunder, but she knew very little about the NBA. But that all changed when she walked by her television and saw one player.
“Just happened to turn on the TV and Russell Westbrook was playing,” Yamano said. “He’s so different from me. He’s so explosive. It’s so emotional. He’s expressing everything that I usually suppress inside myself as a grownup. But he doesn’t hesitate to express those emotions.”
From that moment on, Yamano was hooked. She instantly became a Westbrook fan.
“I was drawn to him,” Yamano said. “It was like he chose me through the screen and drew me into him. I keep watching the Thunder and then I finally recognize I’m a Thunder fan.”
Yet, because Yamano lived in Japan and only spoke Japanese, she was unable to communicate with other fans on social media. There was so much going on inside of her that she had to find a way to get it out.
“I draw Westbrook and Kevin Durant. I was really interested in their relationship on the court.
From my perspective on the relationship on the court, Russell is the young one and does whatever he wants,” Yamano said. “Doesn’t matter. Good, bad, just do whatever he wants. And Durant is cleaning everything up. But I felt like Durant needed Westbrook more. For me, that was really interesting and intriguing. I couldn’t write about it, so I started to draw. I don’t know why, but it’s easier for me to draw a picture than writing.”
Yamano enjoyed drawing as a kid, but that was the extent of her artistic experience. But that didn’t stop her from using the art form to communicate her feelings and what she saw during games.
It has become a ritual for her to post photos of her cartoons after every game.
Sometimes the cartoons focus on basketball while other times it’s something that Yamano manifested in her imagination that only she can explain.
While the colorful cartoons began to draw a following of fellow Thunder fans on social media, it wasn’t until she created a picture of a Black Mamba with Westbrook and Durant when Kobe Bryant played in Oklahoma City for the last time. The drawing, which she threw away after posting it, was retweeted and soon went viral.
“I’m beyond surprised,” Yamano said. “I didn’t think that my drawings were going to be accepted like that by a lot of people and understood by other people all over the world.”
Yamano was soon contacted by Vice News, The Wall Street Journal and NBA Asia, who flew her to Oklahoma City for a Thunder game. Since then Yamano has become an unofficial member of the Thunder organization.
“In 2019, we did our OKC Thunder film growing up, George, about Paul George and animated five minutes short,” Thunder Vice President Dan Mahoney said. “And so our concept for that was to take her illustrations and animate them. And that was the film. So we brought her in for the screening of the film with the Dead Center Film Festival. We got to know her then. And then we’ve just stayed in touch with her. She does all of our player birthday illustrations that we post when it’s a player’s birthday. And she’s just stayed part of the Thunder family for 12 years. We love her art. We love her take on the team. We love her devotion to the team.”
The entire journey she has been on since discovering the Oklahoma City Thunder is still stunning to Yamano. The fact people are interested in her feelings about the team and understand her is the biggest shock.
Yet, the way Yamano and other Thunder fans have come together around her series of cartoons has a deeper meaning than just basketball that she has come to treasure.
“When I’m at home and you can hear lots of sad news and bad news, wars and something like that,” Yamano said. “But there is still communication. There’s also hope we can communicate and understand each other. People with different backgrounds. This Experience makes me feel like this whole situation, maybe it’s getting better. The world would be better with this kind of communication.”
When asked what her life would have been like if she hadn’t flipped on the TV that day in 2012 and discovered Westbrook and the Thunder. Without hesitation, she said it would be the same.
“I think it’s fate that he would find me. I was drawn to him,” Yamano said. “That’s fate. It would have happened now or later that I would find them.”
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