Ashley McGeady-fox of the Philadelphia Daily News reports: It was, according to agent Keith Glass, a game of high-stakes poker. And yesterday, Glass and his client, 6-foot-11 power forward Efthimios Rentzias of Greece, cashed in their chips - sort of.

Six seasons after the Denver Nuggets selected him 23d overall in the NBA draft, Rentzias signed a three-year contract with the 76ers and will join the team next week for their rookie camp, which begins on July 11.

The Sixers acquired the rights to Rentzias last Wednesday, when they traded two future second-round picks to the Hawks, who had previously traded for Rentzias.

Glass said the poker game started late last week. FC Barcelona, for whom Rentzias, 26, has played for the last five years, had the option of bringing Rentzias back for another season. If it had done that, then allowed Rentzias to join the Sixers, Rentzias would have had to pay FC Barcelona, Glass said.

Instead, Glass downplayed the Sixers' interest in Rentzias. FC Barcelona did not re-sign him, and instead must pay Rentzias $200,000 this season, a penalty for not exercising the team option. Now, Rentzias will get approximately $2.4 million over three years from the Sixers, based on this season's rookie scale.

His Sixers salary is "a little less" than he was making from FC Barcelona, Glass said. But the money does not really matter.

"This was our window," Glass said. "If we didn't bring him now, then he would've spent the rest of his career in Europe. It's a big-time league. If he had done one more contract in Europe, he would've been a very rich man, and he would've stayed there. This was the time to do it, and I'm hoping he can reach his potential."

So are the Sixers.