Career
He also represents the Latvian national basketball team Standing at 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in), he plays at the point guard position. Strēlnieks started his professional career in 2007 with Latvian team Ventspils, where he played for four years.
In 2010, he was pursued by Euroleague club Union Olimpija, then coached by Jure Zdovc, but Ventspils didn"t let him go to Slovenia.
After all, in November 2011, Jānis got chance to play for coach Zdovc, as then he was coaching Russian team British Columbia Spartak Saint St. Petersburg, that bought out his contract from Ventspils. With Spartak he spent next two seasons, where one of the highlights was making Eurocup Final Four in 2012.
In August 2013, Strēlnieks joined the Euroleague team Budivelnyk Kiev, signing a two-year contract. Strēlnieks enjoyed a successful season with Budivelnyk that included winning Ukrainian championship and playing in the Euroleague for the first time.
However, after the season he had to opt out of his contract due to the unstable political situation in Ukraine.
In July 2014, he signed a one-year deal with Brose Baskets. He made game winning basket in last seconds of regulation against Lithuania in a game for 3rd place in U18 European Championship. He has represented Latvia national team in EuroBasket 2011 and EuroBasket 2013.