Luka H. Garza (born December 27, 1998) is an American-Bosnian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA), on a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

Iowa Wolves The Iowa Wolves are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Des Moines, Iowa, and are affiliated with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves play their home games at the Wells Fargo Arena and compete in the Western ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

, where he was the consensus pick for national college player of the year for the 2020–21 season. As a junior, he was named a consensus first-team All-American and Big Ten Player of the Year. Garza played for

Maret School Maret School is a coeducational, K–12 independent school in Washington, D.C. It was founded by Marthe Maret in 1911 as a French primary school for girls and boys. History In the late 1800s and early 1900s, three French sisters, Mlles Marth ...

in his hometown of

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life and high school career

Garza grew up in

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City movem ...

, a suburb of

He learned to play

from his father, Frank, who played for

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. Garza watched

video tape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette ...

s that his father collected of former

(NBA) post players like

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

and attempted to recreate their moves. He stood as a freshman attending

in Washington, D.C., but was not able to dunk a basketball until he was a sophomore. In high school, Garza was coached by

Chuck Driesell Charles William Driesell (born November 3, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the boys' varsity basketball head coach at the Maret School in Washington, D.C. Formerly a college basketball coach, Driesell served as an assistant coach und ...

, son of

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

coach

Lefty Driesell Charles Grice "Lefty" Driesell (born December 25, 1931) is a retired American college basketball coach. He was the first coach to win more than 100 games at four different NCAA Division I schools, Driesell led the programs of Davidson College, t ...

. In his senior season, he averaged 24.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. Garza led Maret to the

District of Columbia State Athletic Association The District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA), is the association that oversees post-season high school sporting contests in Washington, D.C. DCSAA is made up of public schools from the DCIAA, DC private schools from various confer ...

(DCSAA) title game and earned D.C.

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

honors. He left as his school's all-time leading scorer, with 1,993 points.

Recruiting

He was a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

and chose to play college basketball for

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

over offers from Georgetown,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and Notre Dame, among others.

College career

Freshman season (2017–2018)

In his college debut versus

Chicago State Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

, Garza had 16 points. He had his first double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds the following game in a win over Alabama State and was named

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

freshman of the week. As a freshman, Garza averaged 12.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

Sophomore season (2018–2019)

Shortly before his sophomore season, Garza underwent surgery to remove a

cyst A cyst is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and cell division, division compared with the nearby Biological tissue, tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of Cell (biology), cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which ...

attached to his

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

. He also dealt with a sprained ankle in January 2019. In the NCAA Tournament, Garza had 20 points and seven rebounds to help Iowa upset

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. He averaged 13.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Garza was named All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media.

Junior season (2019–2020)

Garza scored 44 points, third-most in Iowa history, in a 103–91 loss to

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

on December 6. He followed this up with 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 72–52 win over

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and was named Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. In an 84–68 win against Iowa State on December 12, Garza had a tooth jarred loose after taking an elbow from teammate

Joe Wieskamp Joseph Hinman Wieskamp (born August 23, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes before being drafted 41st overal ...

. Garza returned to the game and finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Garza had 34 points and 12 rebounds in a 89–86 loss to

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

on January 4, 2020. He was named to the midseason watch lists for the

Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...

Naismith Trophy The Naismith Trophy is a trophy awarded to the men's champion of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and is named in honor of basketball's inventor, James Naismith. The trophy was first awarded to the winner of the 1967 FIBA World Championship. The ...

and

Oscar Robertson Trophy The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the outstanding men's college basketball player by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 195 ...

. On February 13, Garza tallied 38 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in an 89–77 loss to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. At the close of the regular season, he was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. He was then named National Player of the Year by the

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

. Garza averaged 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game as a junior, earning consensus first-team All-American honors. Following the season, Garza declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

. On August 2, he announced he was withdrawing from the draft and returning to Iowa.

Senior season (2020–2021)

On November 27, Garza scored a Carver–Hawkeye Arena-record 41 points, including 36 in the first half, on 14-of-15 shooting while posting nine rebounds and three blocks in a 103–76 win over Southern. He joined John Johnson as the only players in program history to record two 40-point games. In his next game, on December 3, Garza scored 30 first-half points as part of a 35-point, 10-rebound performance in a 99–58 victory over

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

. On December 11, he posted 34 points and six three-pointers in a 105–77 win over Iowa State. Garza scored his 2,000th point in a February 2, 2021, win over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. On February 21, he recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds in a 74–68 victory over

, surpassing

Roy Marble Roy Lane Marble, Jr. (December 13, 1966 – September 11, 2015) was an American professional basketball player, 6'6" tall, who played as a swingman (shooting guard/small forward). After playing four seasons at the University of Iowa from 1985 t ...

to become Iowa's all-time leading scorer. After a win over the #25 Wisconsin Badgers, athletic director Gary Barta announced that they would be retiring #55 for Garza. At the close of the season, Garza was again named ''Sporting News'' Player of the Year, becoming the first repeat winner since

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

in 1983 and 1984. He averaged 24.1 points and 8.7 rebounds as a senior, and became the first player in Iowa men's basketball history to twice be named Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-American.

Professional career

Detroit Pistons (2021–2022)

Garza was selected with the 52nd overall pick by the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

in the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

. After a standout Summer League performance, Garza was signed to a

by the Pistons and their G-League affiliate, the

Motor City Cruise The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play a ...

. On September 24, the team announced they had converted his contract from a two-way to a standard deal. On October 23, Garza made his NBA debut, posting three points, two rebounds, two steals and one assist across six minutes of play in a 97–82 loss to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. On November 23, Garza made his first career start, scoring seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 from three, in addition to three rebounds and two assists in a 100–92 loss to the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...

. On December 26, Garza scored a career-high 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 from three, to go along with six rebounds and two assists before fouling out in a 144–109 blowout loss to the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

. On January 1, 2022, Garza logged his first career

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

with a career-high tying 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds across a career-high 40 minutes of action in a 117–116 win over the Spurs. Together with teammates

Hamidou Diallo Hamidou Diallo (born July 31, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was a consensus 5-star prospect, a ...

and

Saddiq Bey Saddiq Bey (born April 9, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats. High school career Bey is the son of Drew ...

, they became the first trio in league history to register 20 points and 14 rebounds in the same game in over 40 years. On June 29, the Pistons declined their team option on Garza, making him a free agent. In July 2022, Garza joined the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus ...

Minnesota Timberwolves (2022–present)

On August 23, 2022, Garza signed with the

. On October 15, 2022, the Timberwolves signed him to a

National team career

In September 2020, Garza expressed his interest to represent the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team internationally. In December 2021, he told a reporter that he finished the process of obtaining dual citizenship.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

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College

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, 33 , , 26 , , 21.7 , , .557 , , .348 , , .681 , , 6.4 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 1.0 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 30 , , 23.7 , , .531 , , .292 , , .804 , , 4.5 , , .9 , , .3 , , .5 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 32.0 , , .542 , , .358 , , .651 , , 9.8 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , 1.8 , , 23.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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, style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 31.5 , , .553 , , .440 , , .709 , , 8.7 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , 1.6 , , 24.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 127 , , 118 , , 27.1 , , .546 , , .367 , , .701 , , 7.3 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , 1.2 , , 18.2

Personal life

Garza's father is of

Spanish American Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...

origin, and his mother is from

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

, of

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

origin. Both of Garza's parents have

experience: his father, Frank, played collegiately at

, and his mother, Šejla (née Muftić), played professionally in Europe. His paternal grandfather, James Halm, played college basketball for

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. His maternal uncle,

Teoman Alibegović Teoman "Teo" Alibegović (born January 11, 1967) is Bosnian-Slovenian former professional basketball player, coach, and manager. With 990 points scored, he is the second all-time top scorer of the senior Slovenian national basketball team. Earl ...

, is the all-time leading scorer for the

Slovenia national basketball team The Slovenia men's national basketball team ( sl, Slovenska košarkarska reprezentanca) represents Slovenia in international basketball competitions, and is managed by the Basketball Federation of Slovenia. Since the independence of Slovenia in ...

. His cousins Amar Alibegović, Mirza Alibegović and Denis Alibegović are all professional basketball players in Europe. His maternal grandfather, Refik Muftić, was an accomplished

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper, spending his entire career with

FK Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Sarajevo (; English: Sarajevo Football Club) is a professional football club based in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina and is one of the most successful clubs in the country. Founded on 24 October 1946, FK Sara ...

. Garza's mother is also an executive assistant at the Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Washington, D.C.

References

External links

Iowa Hawkeyes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garza, Luka 1998 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players American people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent American people of Bosniak descent American people of Spanish descent Bosnia and Herzegovina men's basketball players Bosnia and Herzegovina people of American descent Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Big Ten Athlete of the Year winners Centers (basketball) Detroit Pistons draft picks Detroit Pistons players Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball players Motor City Cruise players National Basketball Association players from Bosnia and Herzegovina Power forwards (basketball)