Yanick Pires Moreira (born July 31, 1991) is an Angolan professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for Kolossos Rodou of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. He played two seasons of college basketball for the

SMU Mustangs The SMU Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Southern Methodist University in University Park, Texas, United States. The Mustangs were founded in 1911 and joined the Southwest Conference, competing against Baylor, Rice, Texas, Texa ...

Early life and college career

From 2008 to 2011, Moreira played for

Primeiro de Agosto Clube Desportivo 1º de Agosto is a multisports club from Luanda, Angola. The club, founded 1 August 1977, is attached to the Angolan armed forces, which is its sponsor. Its main team competes in men's football, and its professional basketball t ...

of the Angolan League before moving to the United States to attend

South Plains College South Plains College (SPC) is a public community college in Levelland, Texas. It operates satellite branches in Plainview, at the Reese Technology Center, formerly Reese Air Force Base, in western Lubbock, and the Lubbock Center near centra ...

. After playing two seasons with South Plains, he transferred to

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

where he graduated in 2015. Moreira was called for

goaltending Goaltending is a violation of the rules in the sport of basketball. It consists of certain forms of player interference with the ball while it is on its way to the basket. It is goaltending if a player touches the ball when it is (a) in downwar ...

on a

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two poi ...

Bryce Alford Bryce Michael Alford (born January 18, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for Zastal Zielona Góra of the Polish Basketball League. He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. He set school records for the most three-point ...

, in the closing seconds of the Mustangs' second-round game of the

2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 77th edition of the tournament began on March ...

against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Moreira took responsibility for the loss, saying "It's all my fault. I should have let the ball hit the rim. I shouldn't have made that mistake as a senior."

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft, Moreira joined the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

for the

2015 NBA Summer League The 2015 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the NBA: the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Ten teams participated in the week-long Orlando Pro Summer League a ...

. In September 2015, he was ruled out for four to six weeks with a minor ligament tear in his left foot. On November 29, 2015, he signed with

Rouen Métropole Basket Rouen Métropole Basket, shortly named RMB, is a professional basketball club founded in 2011, based in Rouen, France. The team currently plays in the LNB Pro B, the French second division. History After playing in the Pro B for one year, the cl ...

of the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

. In April 2016, he left Rouen and signed with Angolan club

Petro de Luanda Petro is a masculine given name, a surname and an Ancient Roman cognomen. It may refer to: Given name * Petro Balabuyev (1931-2007), Ukrainian airplane designer, engineer and professor, lead designer of many Antonov airplanes * Petro Doroshenko (1 ...

. He was later loaned to Spanish club

UCAM Murcia UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball team based in Murcia, Spain. It plays their home games at Palacio de Deportes. History Founded in 1985 u ...

for the rest of the

2015–16 ACB season The 2015–16 ACB season was the 33rd season of the Spanish basketball league, also called Liga ACB, Liga Endesa in its sponsored identity. The regular season started on October 10, 2015, and ended on May 22, 2016. The playoffs was played from May ...

. In July 2016, Moreira joined the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

for the

2016 NBA Summer League The 2016 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. Ten teams participated in the week ...

. On August 11, 2016, he signed with the Raptors, but was waived on October 22, 2016, after appearing in one preseason game. On October 30, 2016, he was acquired by

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

as an affiliate player of Toronto. On May 3, 2017, he signed with Sanat Naft Abadan of the Iranian Super League. On July 13, 2017, Moreira signed with Russian club

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

for the 2017–18 season. He averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds per game in the VTB league. On August 5, 2018, Moreira joined the Greek club PAOK. Moreira spent the 2019–20 season with

Peristeri Peristeri (Greek language, Greek: Περιστέρι, meaning "pigeon/dove" in Greek) is a suburban municipality in the western part of the Athens agglomeration, Greece. With 139,981 inhabitants (2011 census), it is the seventh-largest municipali ...

and averaged 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He signed with

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

on June 18, 2020. He was voted as the MVP of the month for November in the

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL) is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefore the champion participates in the FIBA Intercontin ...

after averaging 17.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Overall, Moreira averaged 13 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 assists throughout the 2020-21 campaign with AEK. On July 28, 2021, Moreira officially returned to

. On January 3, 2022, he parted ways once again with the club. During his second stint, Moreira averaged 7 points and 4.5 rebounds, playing only 15 minutes per game. On March 14, 2022, Moreira returned to Angola, signing with

. On September 20, 2022, Moreira signed with Greek club Kolossos Rodou.

National team career

Moreira has been a regular member of the

Angola national basketball team , oly_appearances = 5 , oly_medals = , wc_appearances = 7 , wc_medals = , zone_championship = AfroBasket , zone_appearances = 21 , zone_medals = ''Gold:'' (1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013) ''Silver:'' ...

since 2010, having competed at the

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. Hosted by Spain, it was the last tournament to be held on the then-current four-year cycle ...

. At the

, Moreira scored a tournament-high and career-high 38 points, along with 15 rebounds, in an 83–91 win against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

References

External links