Another NBA player to Europe: Linas Kleiza

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Kleiza leaving Nuggets for Greece

Denver Nuggets restricted free-agent forward Linas Kleiza has agreed to a two-year, $12.2 million contract with Greek team Olympiakos, his agent Bill Duffy told Yahoo! Sports on Monday.

The contract has an opt-out clause, which allows Kleiza to again become a restricted free agent next summer.

Kleiza averaged 9.9 points and four rebounds while shooting 44.7 percent as Carmelo Anthony's(notes) backup last season. Olympiakos also has three other former NBA players on their roster: Josh Childress(notes), Andreas Glyniadakis(notes) and newcomer Von Wafer(notes). Olympiakos has also expressed interest in Detroit Pistons free-agent guard Allen Iverson(notes).

Kleiza's contract is the largest European deal this summer. Kleiza, who is currently playing on Lithuania's national team, is expected to sign the contract later this week.

Kleiza averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 34.2 percent from 3-point range during three seasons with the Nuggets. His departure leaves forward Renaldo Balkman(notes) as Anthony's backup.

Duffy said that while Kleiza attracted interest from other NBA teams, his client's restricted free-agency status limited his options.

"There was never any substantive negotiation with Denver," Duffy said. "Based on that, we turned our interest to a global market."

[It's All About 18]

Whoa... 12 million $ for 2 years... overpaid

['EclipZe]

those big european clubs really got to much money lol... cool add though

[Chamillitary Click]

i liked him as a bench player, but he'll be a big name in Europe.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

The Nuggets stay losing.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^they have a core of Billups, Melo, JR Smith, and Nene...i wouldnt worry if i were them.

[jeromechickenbone]

I watched Kleiza a lot in college, I liked dude.  He could ball out on occassion and is pretty fearless.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

dude is weird, though..he either plays on an all-star level or bench-warmer scrub level. no in betweens.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

^they have a core of Billups, Melo, JR Smith, and Nene...i wouldnt worry if i were them.

All the contendors reupped this offseason. What did the Nuggets do?

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

^they have a core of Billups, Melo, JR Smith, and Nene...i wouldnt worry if i were them.

All the contendors reupped this offseason. What did the Nuggets do?

three main factors

- billups now has a season with the team under his belt
- the development of jr smith
- nene coming off a healthy career year


i think well see what we saw from them the 2nd half of last season and then some, which is no joke.

[Antonio]

Kleiza will beast in Europe.. Give him 35-40 minutes on defensive minded team built to run the offense around him and Wafer and they'll be a treath for everybody here in Europe. Big acquisition.