Unknown basketball legend turned down NBA and had more points than Kobe, Jordan

The best draft in NBA history featured four future Hall of Famers with huge basketball names.

Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley and John Stockton were all part of the legendary 1984 draft.

But one other player selected in ’84 also entered the Naismith Hall of Fame, even though his name has almost been forgotten by basketball fans and he never played in the NBA.

The Atlanta Hawks hold the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 Draft, where Zaccharie Risacher, Alexandre Sarr and Reed Sheppard are expected to be the first names off the board.

Bronny James, the son of LeBron, could also be drafted from June 26-27 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Forty years ago, there were 10 rounds and 228 players were drafted.

Olajuwon went No. 1 overall to Houston, Jordan was taken by the Chicago Bulls at No. 3, and Barkley (Philadelphia) and Stockton (Utah) were off the board by the time that the 17th selection was made.

Five rounds later, another future Hall of Famer was drafted.

The New Jersey Nets took Oscar Daniel Bezerra Schmidt with the No. 131 overall pick in the sixth round.

Schmidt, a 6ft 8in forward, was from Brazil and hadn’t played at a United States college.

But he was so talented and promising, the Nets used a draft pick on him.

While Jordan became the most dominant player in NBA history and Olajuwon evolved into one of the greatest centers of all-time, Schmidt never set foot on an NBA court — he opted to represent his country rather then become a pro in the US.

That didn’t stop him from scoring 49,737 career points, though.

Ahead of his time on the international basketball stage, Schmidt helped grow the game across the globe and played in the 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics for Brazil.

In 1988, he averaged an astonishing 42.3 points while shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 55.6 percent on 3-pointers.

Schmidt became the all-time leading scorer in Olympic history and his all-around game was compared to Larry Bird.

He led Brazil to the gold medal at the 1987 Pan-American Games and scored 46 points against the United States. 

LeBron James passed Schmidt in career scoring last season, but the Brazilian star has more points than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Jordan.

Schmidt was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2013.

He won three South American championship gold medals and was known as the Holy Hand to his Brazilian admirers.