| Alessandra Santos de Oliveira | |
| Birth Place: | São Paulo, Brazil |
| Headercolor: | lightsteelblue |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Alessandra Santos de Oliveira (born 2 December 1973 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian former basketball player who spent 17 years in the national team, winning the 1994 FIBA World Championship for Women and two Olympic medals, silver in Atlanta 1996, and bronze in Sydney 2000, along with a fourth place in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 1998 and 2006 World Championships.[1] She has also competed in 10 different countries, including three WNBA teams - Washington Mystics (1998–99), Indiana Fever (2000) and Seattle Storm (2001).[2]
On January 27, 1998, Oliveira was assigned to the Washington Mystics as part of the initial player allocation. Her debut game was played on June 11, 1998 in a 57 - 83 loss to the Charlotte Sting where she recorded 5 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal.[3] During her rookie season, after losing her starting position to Heidi Burge, Oliveira would miss 14 straight games with the Mystics from July 14 to August 16. She did start in 12 of her 16 played games and her averages of the season were 11.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. Even with her productive stat line, the Mystics finished with a still franchise-worst 3 - 27 record (2 - 14 in the games where Oliveira played).
In the 1999 season, Oliveira would lose her starting Center position after 5 games to teammate Murriel Page and her minutes per game dropped from 30.1 in her rookie season to 16.6 in her sophomore season. The Mystics then traded Oliveira on July 11 to the Houston Comets for Nyree Roberts.[4] Roberts would go on to play only 8 games with the Mystics and those were the final games of her WNBA career. While Oliveira, did not play a single game for the Comets and sat out the rest of the 1999 season.
For the 2000 season, Oliveira signed a contract with the New York Liberty on May 2 but was waived during the same month on May 28.[5] Eleven days later on June 7, she signed a contract with the Indiana Fever but she would only play three games for the team recording 3 points and 3 rebounds in 11 total minutes.
Oliveira's final playing days in the WNBA would be spent as a member of the Seattle Storm. She first signed with the team on April 30, 2001 but had her contract suspended on May 27. She was able to return to the team and play during the 2001 season. In just 10 games with the Storm (winning once and losing the other nine games), she averaged 1.3 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. She would be waived by the Storm on May 24, 2002, less than a month before the 2002 season started.[6]
Oliveira never made the playoffs during her career and her final game ever was played on August 14, 2001 in a 62 - 72 loss to the Sacramento Monarchs. In her final game, Oliveira played for five and half minutes and recorded 2 points and 1 rebound.[7]