It’s been a busy day for Greek club Olympiakos Piraeus.

After signing Von Wafer earlier in the day, Olympiakos inked Lithuanian power forward Linas Kleiza to a 2-year, $12.2 million dollar contract.  The last few days, sources have said that Kleiza and the club was close to reaching an agreement.

(Discuss Linas Kleiza’s signing with Olympiakos)

“Olympiacos showed interest in me. I would like to stay in NBA, but if I have to go back to Europe, why not in Greece?” Kleiza recently said.

Kleiza was a restricted-free agent with the NBA, but the Denver Nuggets did not have the cap room to keep 6-8, 245lb bull that backed-up Carmelo Anthony last season.

Bill Duffy,  Kleiza’s agent, said that though Kleiza has had interest from other NBA teams, his restricted free-agency status limited his options.  So without any serious offers from the Nuggets, they had to move on.

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

Duffy also said that his client’s contract included an opt-out clause, which allows Kleiza to become a restricted free agent next summer if he chooses.  If that happens, Denver retains Kleiza’s NBA rights.

Rumors have been swirling all offseason that Olympiakos was working on stealing another NBA player.  Before the signing of Wafer and Kleiza today, the Greek club had  reportedly offered contracts to Allen Iverson and Nate Robinson, and was/is pursuing Ramon Sessions.

With Kleiza aboard, the Reds have taken three-legitimate NBA players, Kleiza, Von Wafer, and Josh Childress.  Childress made headlines last year, and started a trend, as the first NBA player to choose the Euroleague over the NBA.

The 24-year old Kleiza averaged 9.9 points and four rebounds while shooting 44.7% last season for the Denver Nuggets.  Kleiza will be participating in the 2009 Eurobasket tournament to be held in September.