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Luka Garza Headshot

Minnesota Timberwolves | #55 | Center

Luka Garza

PPG

3.4

RPG

1.3

APG

0.1

PIE

10.1

HEIGHT

6'10" (2.08m)

WEIGHT

243lb (110kg)

COUNTRY

USA

LAST ATTENDED

Iowa

AGE

26 years

BIRTHDATE

December 27, 1998

DRAFT

2021 R2 Pick 52

EXPERIENCE

3 Years

6'10" | 243lb | 26 years

DRAFT

2021 R2 Pick 52

BIRTHDATE

December 27, 1998

COUNTRY

USA

LAST ATTENDED

Iowa

EXPERIENCE

3 Years

Player Bio

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

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. 

BEFORE NBA

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).

PERSONAL LIFE

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.