Laura Villegas of Hawthorne, CA is a 19 year old student at El Camino College. Aside from being a student, she also works part time as a secretary. Laura was always a Laker fan because she lived in Los Angeles, but she got really into the Lakers when she first noticed Sasha three years ago.

When I asked her what it was about Sasha that caught her attention, she said that it was his three-pointers. When she wanted to find out more about Sasha, she found out his name and jersey number by looking at the back of his jersey, which was her first foray into Sasha fandom.

She also told me about how she learned how to pronounce Sasha’s surname, Vujacic. “I didn’t know how to pronounce it and neither did anyone I was with, so we argued about it until I found out what was the correct pronunciation,” Laura recalls.

As of Laura’s Lakers and Sasha fandom, she has some really fun game day rituals and looks. Laura wears her Sasha jersey and her best friend wears Farmar’s. They also make sure that they have their Laker-themed towels and slippers while watching the game and wear purple and yellow eyeshadow. When Sasha is playing on the floor, Laura also screams at the television while jumping up and down because she believes in him and knows that he will be do his best during his time on the floor.

Sasha’s passion for the game is also a quality that Laura admires. She indicates that, “His passion for the game is something admirable, no matter who tries to put him down, he keeps showing his positiveness and that he never gives up.”

Laura adds, “I find his hunger to strive for greatness and achieve his goals amazing. He does anything he needs to do to get what he wants and keep improving.”

Other than his basketball skills, Laura is also entranced by Sasha’s kindness and down-to-earth personality. She also likes his positivity towards everything as well as his dorky side and sense of humor. In fact, one of her favorite Sasha moments was when Laker teammate DJ Mbenga was getting interviewed in the locker room and Sasha was pulled into the conversation. During that time, Sasha pulled a small practical joke on DJ. It is one of her favorite moments because it displays that Sasha is still a kid at heart and that “he’d be a fun person to be around.”

If Laura could tell Sasha one thing, she would tell him that she is always cheering for him no matter what.

She also expresses that, “Sasha seems like a really nice person, it also seems like he hasn’t let the fame and money get to his head. And I hope to one day meet him.”