2023-24 NBA SEASON (MINNESOTA) Played in 25 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 4.0 points on 48.0% shooting, 1.2 rebounds and 0.2 assists in 4.9 minutes per game… On Feb. 18 in Indianapolis, Garza played in the NBA G League Up Next Game as a part of Team StrictlyBball, finishing with four points and four rebounds. Garza finished with four points and four rebounds in 10:32 minutes of action…Played three games for the Iowa Wolves in the NBA G League where he averaged 36.7 points on 57.4% shooting, 12.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.7 blocks per game… Garza came off the bench for the Timberwolves on April 3 vs. Toronto to collect a season-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, two rebounds and a steal in just 9:28 minutes of action… On Dec. 19, the NBA G League named Garza the G League Player of the Week for games played Dec. 11-17, marking the first G League Player of the Week honor he has received this season and the second time receiving the honor in his career (Nov. 21-28, 2022)…Garza averaged 36.5 points on 53.2% (25-of-47) shooting, 12.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 blocks per game in two games during the week.

NBA CAREER NOTES

Had his two-way contract converted to a standard NBA contract on April 4…Re-Signed with the Timberwolves as a Two-Way Contract on July 3, 2023…Signed by the Timberwolves via free agency on August 23, 2022… Converted from a two-way contract to a regular contract by the Detroit Pistons on September 24, 2021….Signed a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons on August 16, 2021…2022-23 (Minnesota): Played in 28 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 6.5 points on 54.3% shooting, 2.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 8.2 minutes per game… Named a captain for the 2023 NBA G League Next Up Game during the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, leading his team to a 178-162 victory…On Mar. 13 at Atlanta, Luka Garza finished with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting in 18:09 of action off the bench. The game marked Graza's seventh 10+ point performance this season (10th career)…After being selected as a captain for the NBA G League Next Up Game, Garza led Team Luka to a 178-162 win over Team Scoot…Garza was named MVP after scoring 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting along with eight rebounds in 21:15 minutes of action…For the second straight game, Garza shined, finishing with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including a career-best 4-of-5 from deep, his second career 20+ point game, first of the season on Feb. 8 at Utah…Garza scored 25+ points in a season-best 23:30 minutes of action off the bench, becoming the 32nd player in Timberwolves history to have 25+ points off the bench and the first since Malik Beasley on Jan. 28, 2022 at Phoenix…In 10:06 of action off the bench on Feb. 3 vs. Orlando, Garza scored a season-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep, to go along with six rebounds…All 17 of Garza’s 17 points came in the fourth quarter, a career-high for points in the quarter and his third 15+ point game of the season (sixth career)…Garza became the second player in Timberwolves franchise history to score 17+ points in less than 11:00 minutes of playing time, joining James Robinson, who had 23 points in 10 minutes played on Dec. 30, 1996, at Cleveland…2021-22 (Detroit): Played in 32 games (five starts) for the Detroit Pistons, averaging 5.8 points on 44.9% shooting, 3.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 12.2 minutes per game…Scored a career-high 20 points on three occasions his rookie season, including on Jan. 1 vs. San Antonio where Garza recorded his first career double-double and 20+ point/10+ rebound game with 20 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

NBA PLAYOFF NOTES

2024 (Minnesota): Appeared in his first career playoff games, seeing action in seven games, averaging 4.1 points on 83.3% shooting (10-of-12) and 0.9 rebounds in 3.7 minutes per game…Scored a playoff-career-high eight points twice, including logging a playoff-high 7:47 minutes of action in Minnesota’s 115-70 win over Denver in Game 6 on May 16.

INTERNATIONAL NOTES

For the first time was named to the Bosnia and Herzegovina and helped guide them to a second-place finish in the Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament 2023…In five games, Garza averaged 12.4 points on 59.5% shooting and 7.0 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game. 

COLLEGE NOTES

Named unanimous 2020-21 National Player of the Year…Two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and unanimous first-team All-Big Ten (2020-21)…Twice named Associated Press Big Ten Player of the year and unanimous All-Big Ten (2020-21)…Named USBWA District VI Player of the Year and all-district honoree (NABC & USBWA) twice…First Hawkeye since Jeff Horner & Greg Brunner in 2006 to be named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team (2021)…First Iowa men’s basketball player to win Big Ten Player of the Year twice…First player in Iowa history to be voted a National Player of the Year…Winner of the 2020 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Center of the Year and Pete Newell Big Man of the Year…Finished his collegiate career as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer (2,306 points).

Parents are Frank and Sejla Garza and has one sister, Tesa…Father played basketball at the University of Idaho and his mother was a member of a Yugoslavian national basketball team…His grandfather, James Halm, played basketball at the University of Hawaii and uncle Teoman Alibegovic played basketball at Oregon State and is the Slovenian national team’s all-time leading scorer…His cousin Omar Alibegovic played at St. John’s…His family is from Bosnia and Herzegovina…Majored in economics at Iowa.