The

NBA

is the world’s premier basketball league, where only the sport’s greatest talents survive and thrive. But the Summer

Olympics

is where the game of basketball can shine on an international stage, as various countries compete against each other to take home the Gold Medal, and that includes basketball.

As a result, the Olympics attracts the game’s biggest stars and best players, not only from the NBA but from various worldwide leagues. And when the most talented players compete on the same stage, it often leads to some big numbers being put up.

While Olympic basketball, organized by FIBA, does not feature the same amount of offense as the NBA due to various rule differences, that has not prevented the game’s best stars from putting up the insane offense found in the NBA. The following are the five greatest scorers in the history of Olympic basketball.

1

Oscar Schmidt – 1,093 Points

Schmidt is the all-time scoring leader in Olympic basketball

For a long time, there was no question who was the king of international basketball. Despite having never won a Gold Medal, Oscar Schmidt led Olympic basketball in nearly every category and still leads in many categories, including all-time scoring.

While

LeBron James

recently passed Schmidt on the list of all-time scoring worldwide, Schmidt still holds that honor in Olympic basketball, having garnered a total of 1,093 points on the big stage. He is the only player to have surpassed the 1,000-point mark in Olympic basketball.

The 6-foot-9 power forward from Brazil had the longest career of any basketball player, playing from 1974 to 2003, a career spanning 29 years. He has racked up a total of 49,973 career points and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, despite having never played in the NBA (he was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1984, however).

2

Andrew Gaze – 789 Points

Gaze is second all-time in total Olympic basketball points

Perhaps the greatest player in Australia’s National Basketball League (NBL) history, Andrew Gaze also translated those skills to the international stage. He is second all-time in Olympic basketball scoring, with 789 career points racked up.

In his 22 years playing professional basketball, Gaze racked up seven NBL MVP awards and won the league’s scoring title a record 14 times (and he even won the 1999 NBA Finals with the

San Antonio Spurs

— kind of, he was not on the official playoff roster). The 6-foot-7 shooting guard led Australia to five Olympic basketball appearances.

In those five appearances, one of which he was the flag bearer (2000), Gaze racked up a total of 789 points, becoming second all-time to only Oscar Schmidt. As the captain of Team Australia, he also never quite won the Gold Medal, but his efforts on the court certainly made him one of the greatest international players.

3

Pau Gasol – 649 Points

Gasol is third all-time in total Olympic basketball points

One of the greatest basketball players to experience success in both the NBA and in international leagues,

Pau Gasol

is third all-time in total Olympic basketball points. Unlike Oscar Schmidt and Andrew Gaze, the 7-foot-1 Gasol spent the majority of his career in the NBA and experienced a ton of glory on both stages.

Making his debut in 1998 for FC Barcelona Bàsquet, Gasol played four seasons there until he was drafted by the

Atlanta Hawks

in the 2001 NBA Draft, but was traded to the

Memphis Grizzlies

. He found the most success with the

L.A. Lakers

, however, where he won back-to-back rings in 2009 and 2010.

But on the international level, Gasol also saw success. He won three championships with FC Barcelona Bàsquet, the FIBA World Cup in 2006, and scored 649 points in Olympic basketball, the third all-time. On multiple continents, Gasol cemented his legacy as one of the greatest international basketball players.

4

Luis Scola – 591 Points

Scola is fourth all-time in total Olympic basketball points

One of the rare cases of a non-American basketball player winning an Olympic Gold Medal is Luis Scola. The 6-foot-9 forward from Argentina actually won the Gold Medal at the 2004 Games and also won a Bronze in 2008.

Scola began playing basketball for Argentine clubs before being drafted by the Spurs in the 2002 NBA Draft. However, he did not play in the NBA until 2007, as the Spurs failed to buy out his contract with Saski Baskona, an Argentine club.

The Spurs did eventually manage to buy him out for $3 million, and traded his assets to the

Houston Rockets

. Scola played around the league for various teams before retiring in 2021, but did so an Olympic champion. His 591 points scored in Olympic basketball is good for fourth all-time in that category.

5

Manu Ginóbili – 523 Points

Ginóbili is fifth all-time in total Olympic basketball points

The only other player to exist in the top five in Olympic basketball scoring, while also having won a Gold Medal, is Manu Ginóbili. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard is also from Argentina, and he won the Gold Medal alongside Luis Scola in 2004.

Ginóbili is also fifth all-time in Olympic basketball points, having racked up a total of 523. Together, combined with Scola, Team Argentina was a powerhouse in 2004 and that led to them winning their first (and to date, only) Gold Medal in basketball.

Like Scola, Ginóbili began his career playing for various Argentine clubs before being drafted by the Spurs in 1999. He did not join the team until 2002 and would go on to play for them for 16 seasons until 2008, in which Ginóbili racked up four championships and two All-Star appearances in 2005 and 2011.

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