Oscar Schmidt, basketball legend, died this Friday April 17, 2026 at the age of 68.
Brazilian Oscar Schmidt, basketball legend and triggerman with an unusually long career, died Friday at the age of 68, announced the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (CBB) and his family.
Nicknamed “mao santa” (the holy hand), he scored 49,737 points throughout his long and prolific career (1974-2003) for club and national team, a world record which stood for a long time until American star LeBron James surpassed it in 2024.
“Absolute sports icon”
“The best player in the history of Brazilian basketball bids farewell as an absolute icon of the sport, leaving behind a legacy that redefined the limits of what is possible on the court”greeted the CBB in a press release.
A genius shooter, Schmidt played in five Olympic Games, from Moscow 1980 to Atlanta 1996, and remains to this day the top scorer in the history of the Olympic Games, with a total of more than a thousand points scored. The Brazilian only retired at the age of 45, in 2003, while playing for Brazilian club Flamengo.
What was he suffering from?
Married and father of two children, the former basketball player, who had been battling a brain tumor for years, was hospitalized earlier in the day in a hospital in Sao Paulo (southeast). The cause of his death has not been revealed.
His son, Felipe, dedicated a message to him on Instagram: “Today the world loses an idol, I lose my father […]. Rest in peace, dad.”
Oscar Schmidt shone in clubs in Brazil, Italy and Spain, but never played in the NBA. Drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, the same year Michael Jordan was chosen by the Chicago Bulls, he ultimately decided not to play in the North American league.
“A source of inspiration”
He repeatedly claimed that this would have required him to renounce the national team, according to the rules in force at the time. This missed meeting with the NBA was somewhat compensated by participation in the All-Star Game, during the celebrity match, in 2017.
“Oscar Schmidt was not only an extraordinary player. He was the very definition of devotion, passion and commitment to the sport.”underlined the CBB, for which “his death marks the end of an era.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his condolences to the player’s family and his “legion of fans”. “His dedication raised the name of the country and was a source of inspiration for generations of athletes and sports lovers”wrote the left-wing leader on X.
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