Late Career
Originally selected with the 23rd overall pick by the Denver Nuggets in the 1996 NBA Draft while under contract with PAOK, Rentzias opted not to play in the NBA at that time.
He later transferred to Barcelona Basquet for the 1997-98 season. In his last year with Barcelona (2001–02), Rentzias averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.5 rebounds per game in 17.3 minutes per contest in 51 games in both the Spanish League (ACB) and the Euroleague. He shot 61.6 percent from the field, 36.3 percent from three-point range and 71.4 percent from the foul line. With Barcelona Rentzias won his second Korać Cup championship in the 1998-99 season and he also won 2 Spanish League championships in the 1998-99 and 2000-01 seasons.
In his only season in the NBA, during the 2002-03 campaign with the 76ers, he played in only 35 games, averaging 1.5 points per game. He was the second Greek-born basketball player at the time to ever suit up for an NBA team.
He subsequently played for Ülkerspor (Turkish League), Montepaschi Siena (Italian League) and Forum Valladolid (Spanish League).
Rentzias had plans to come back to PAOK to finish his career. Unfortunately, in August 2006, he announced his retirement from basketball at the age of 30, because of injury problems.
Read more about this topic: Efthimios Rentzias
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