One of the best players from the legendary 1984 NBA Draft never played in the NBA.
But Oscar Schmidt changed basketball forever, once averaging 42 points in the Olympics.
Schmidt, a 6-foot-8 forward, is from Brazil and has never played college football in the United States.
But he was so talented and promising that the New Jersey Nets selected him in the 1984 draft, a year after Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton were all first-round picks.
Five rounds later, another future Hall of Famer was drafted.
The Nets selected Oscar Daniel Bezerra-Schmidt in the sixth round with the 131st overall pick.
While Jordan would go on to become the most dominant player in NBA history and Olajuwon one of the best centers of all time, Schmidt never stepped on an NBA court, choosing to proudly represent his native Brazil rather than go professional in the United States.
Even before his rise to international fame, Schmidt helped popularize the game around the world and represented Brazil in the 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.
In 1988, he averaged an astounding 42.3 points on 56.9% field goal shooting and 55.6% three-point shooting.
Schmidt's versatile, all-around game was comparable to Larry Bird's.
He led Brazil to the gold medal at the 1987 Pan American Games, scoring 46 points against the United States.
Schmidt set an Olympic single-game record with 55 points against Spain and has scored in seven of the top 10 scoring games in Olympic history.
LeBron James (40,474 career points) surpassed Schmidt's career points last season, but the Brazilian star has scored more points than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Jordan.
Schmidt was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2013.
He won three gold medals at the South American Championships and was known to Brazilian fans as the “Holy Hand.”
Schmidt never played in the NBA, but he scored over 1,000 points and is the all-time leading scorer in Olympic history.
The 2024 Olympic Games will take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August and talkSPORT will bring you live coverage from the opening to closing ceremonies.
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