Argentina's Luis Scola will go down in history as one of the country's greatest basketball athletes of all time, and Tuesday morning he received the praise he deserves.
During a stoppage of play in the final minute of Argentina's 97-59 loss to Australia, Scola's teammates, as well as the Australians and all in attendance, gave the 41-year-old five-time Olympian a standing ovation in what could possibly be the final game of his international playing career.
Scola was visibly emotional on the bench as each of his teammates expressed their gratitude for his contributions to the game.
In 2004, Scola helped lead Argentina past the United States to win the men's basketball gold medal in Athens. The U.S. had won three straight Olympic basketball titles leading up to Athens, and Argentina's victory proved to be one of the biggest upsets in recent Olympic history. Scola guided Argentina to another Olympic medal four years later, taking home a bronze in Beijing.
Scola had a decade-long NBA career, playing for the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets during that span. In 2008, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
More recently, Scola has been playing for the Pallacanestro Varese of Italy's Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).
It is unclear if Scola will continue to play overseas in Italy, but the Buenos Aires native has clearly left a lasting impact on those who watched him in his home country, not to mention around the world.
