OSCAR SCHMIDT - DRAFTED 131 OVERALL

Oscar Schmidt, born 1958 in Natal, Brazil, is an international basketball player who played in the Italian league, brazilian league and la liga basketball in Spain. During his impressive career, Schmidt scored nearly 50,000 points in club and international games, giving him the title of best point scorer of all time.

You ask yourself who this player is and why you have never heard of him before, and that's simply because the NBA was less adamant of international players in the league. Generally, getting drafted internationally to the NBA was a lengthy and strenuous process. Many international players did make it to the league and actually had successful careers in the meantime. Players like Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo and Detlef Schempf, who got drafted from 1984 to 1991, which was at a difficult time to sign international players. But that didn't stop these players from making it to the NBA, and even having successful careers like Hakeem who won the 1994 MVp and two rings in the meantime, while Dikembe is one of two players to win DPOY in 4 different seasons.

In 1984, the same draft class that contained Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, and the black cat himself, Michael Jordan. Arguably one of the most stacked draft classes ever, but one player is never mentioned, and that player is none other than Oscar Schmidt, who was drafted 131 overall by the New Jersey Nets. Oscar felt insulted that he was not picked higher, obviously this league and the scouts had not paid much attention to the game on an international scale. Following the draft, Oscar made the decision not to sign for the Nets to pursue his career in Brazil, but that wasn't the end for Schmidt as he went on to play in the Brazilian league. Oscar Schmidt was mainly known on the international tournament level, especially the Olympics. Thanks to Schmidt, Brazil were often a problematic team to go against, which lasted 16 years or 4 Olympics.

Oscar's relationship with the NBA was not over after the 1984 draft, in fact three years after the fact, Brazil met with the US national team in an 1987 world cup game featuring a young David Robinson. Oscar continued his international career in the Italian league and la liga in Spain, where he became the top scorer in both.

But Oscar Schmidt's career never went above international basketball, he stopped at the Olympics where he is to this day the top scorer with 1093 points in just 38 games, averaging 28.8 points per game. But what's more impressive is his total points scored, at 49,737 points, he excels the current top scorer in the NBA (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - 38,387) by a whopping 11,350 points, averaging 32.6 points per game throughout his entire career.
What's more impressive than averaging 33 points is that international basketball is slower and more team based, meaning he probably could have dominated the NBA, which has a habit of being faster and where players average higher points per game.

It's a shame that the NBA couldn't have adapted to drafting NBA players before the 1984 draft. In an alternate universe, we could have had a prime Arvydas Sabonis playing against a prime Oscar Schmidt. Thankfully the NBA changed its ways, giving us more international players than ever, starting with Hakeem and Dirk Nowitzki. Nowadays European players make part of the top 10, even top 5 players in the league some nights, having stars and MVP winners in Giannis, Jokic, Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, and many more.

If you want to check it out for yourself, watch the all american team vs the rest of the world during the NBA All Star weekend and see which is the most dominant side.