Overview
- Brazilian Hall of Famer Oscar Schmidt died Friday at age 68 after a 15-year fight with a brain tumor, his family confirmed after treatment at Santa Ana Municipal Hospital in Santana de Parnaíba.
- Schmidt is the all-time scoring leader at both the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup and still holds single-game marks of 55 and 52 points; he retired with an unofficial 49,737 career points that LeBron James surpassed in 2024.
- He played in five straight Olympics and four World Cups, debuting for Brazil at 19 and becoming known as a 6-foot-8 sharpshooter nicknamed “Mão Santa” for his long-range accuracy.
- Drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, he declined the NBA to remain eligible for Brazil’s national team under rules that then barred NBA players from the Olympics.
- He led Brazil’s 120–115 comeback over a U.S. college stars team at the 1987 Pan American Games with 46 points, as tributes now pour in from Brazil’s sports bodies, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Larry Bird, and Steve Kerr.