Yanick Moreira


Yanick Pires Moreira is an Angolan professional basketball player for AEK Athens of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League. He played two seasons of college basketball for the SMU Mustangs.

Basketball career

From 2008 to 2011, Moreira played for Primeiro de Agosto of the Angolan League before moving to the United States to attend South Plains College. After playing two seasons with South Plains, he transferred to Southern Methodist University where he graduated in 2015. Moreira was called for goaltending on a three-point shot by Bryce Alford, in the closing seconds of the Mustangs' second-round game of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament against UCLA. 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."
After going undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft, Moreira joined the Los Angeles Clippers for the 2015 NBA Summer League. 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 of the French LNB Pro A. In April 2016, he left Rouen and signed with Angolan club Petro de Luanda. He was later loaned to Spanish club UCAM Murcia for the rest of the 2015–16 ACB season.
In July 2016, Moreira joined the Toronto Raptors for the 2016 NBA Summer League. 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 of the NBA Development League 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 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 and averaged 12.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. He signed with AEK Athens on June 18, 2020.

National team career

Moreira has been a regular member of the Angola national basketball team since 2010, having competed at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. At the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Moreira scored a tournament-high and career-high 38 points, along with 15 rebounds, in an 83–91 win against Australia.