Žanis Peiners (born 1 August 1990) is a Latvian 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 (appro ...

player. He is 2.05 m (6 ft in) tall

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

Professional career

In 2009, he started pro career with VEF Rīga. After that season, he went to

Latvijas Universitāte University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

, where he played the next three seasons. Peiners helped his team, which consisted of

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

student-athletes, to reach the LBL playoffs twice. He was scoring the champion of the LBL in 2013, averaging 21.1 points per game. In 2013, Žanis graduated from LU, and attracted the attention of multiple

clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

from abroad. He had strong interest from

KK Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija () was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They have played in two differen ...

, but ultimately decided to sign with

MBC Mykolaiv Municipal Basketball Club Mykolaiv (in Ukrainian: Муніципальний Баскетбольний Клуб Миколаїв), commonly known as simply Mykolaiv, is a professional basketball team (club) of Mykolaiv, Ukraine. They currently p ...

. He finished the season in the Ukrainian SuperLeague, as the league's second best scorer (16.1 points per game). On 17 September 2014 he joined the defending Latvian League champions,

Ventspils Ventspils () is a state city in northwestern Latvia in the historical Courland region of Latvia, and is the sixth largest city in the country. At the beginning of 2020, Ventspils had a population of 33,906. It is situated on the Venta River and ...

. On 20 July 2016 Peiners signed with the Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki. In June 2018, Peiners signed with Darüşşafaka of the

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

(BSL) and

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. In July 2019, Peiners signed with Partizan of the

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

and EuroCup.

Latvian national team

Peiners has also been a member of the senior men's

Latvian national basketball team The Latvia men's national basketball team () represents Latvia in international basketball. They are organized and run by the Latvian Basketball Association. Latvia has reached the European Basketball Championship 15 times, with their ultimat ...

. With Latvia's senior national team, he played at the

EuroBasket 2015 EuroBasket 2015 was the 39th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by Croatia, France, Germany, and Latvia, making it the first EuroBasket held in more than one country. It started on 5 Sept ...

and

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Darüşşafaka , 28 , , 14 , , 17.3 , , .539 , , .300 , , .864 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .2 , , 6.7 , , 7.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 28 , , 14 , , 17.3 , , .539 , , .300 , , .864 , , 1.9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .2 , , 6.7 , , 7.9

References

External links

FIBA Europe ProfileEurobasket.com ProfileGreek Basket League Profile

Greek Basket League Profile

Latvian League Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peiners, Zanis 1990 births Living people ABA League players BC Lietkabelis players BK VEF Rīga players BK Ventspils players Darüşşafaka Basketbol players Latvian expatriate basketball people in Greece KK Partizan players Latvian expatriate basketball people in Ukraine Latvian expatriate basketball people in Serbia Latvian men's basketball players MBC Mykolaiv players P.A.O.K. BC players People from Rēzekne Point guards Shooting guards Small forwards