Caitlin Clark says quiet part out loud about Celtics center's recent surge

Boston Celtics center Luka Garza is quickly becoming one of the team’s most exciting stories. After struggling to find a rotation spot with the Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, and even in his first two months as a Celtic, Garza finally has a defined role in the NBA.

He comes off the Celtics bench, competes like an absolute maniac down low and on the boards, and provides some nice spacing with his increasingly reliable three-point shot.

Ever since the former Collegiate Player of the Year returned to the lineup on Dec. 20, he’s been borderline automatic from long range. Garza is shooting 68.7% from deep during that span, and is up to 51.2% on the season.

Caitlin Clark was always confident in Luka Garza's fit in Boston

The former Iowa Hawkeye recently got a shoutout from his fellow Iowa hoops star, WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark. Clark quote-tweeted Celtics reporter Marc D’Amico’s post about Garza’s prolonged efficiency from three-point range.

Her message was simple.

“I knew.”

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Clark shout out Garza. When he initially signed in Boston last summer, she shared the news to her Instagram story in support.

Clark was a freshman at Iowa during Garza’s senior season in 2021. The big man had his best shooting season for the Hawkeyes that year, knocking down 44% of his triples on 3.2 attempts per game.

It was clear that he had the foundation to be a good shooter at the NBA level; he just lacked opportunity through his first three seasons. Now that he’s seeing consistent minutes in Boston, Garza looks far more comfortable shooting the ball.

Not only is he making shots, but he’s legitimately impacting winning for the Celtics. Since his re-emergence in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation last month against the Toronto Raptors, Garza has been a part of five of Boston’s 13 most common three-man lineups.

All five of the units that feature Garza have a double-digit positive net rating. The two most common: Garza, Jaylen Brown, and Payton Pritchard, and Garza, Anfernee Simons, and Hugo Gonzalez, have net ratings of 22.3 and 30.2, respectively.

Simply put, good things happen when the Celtics put the big man on the floor. He’s clearly finding his footing as a complementary piece and developing a strong chemistry with his teammates.

His effectiveness as a screener enables him to create offensive advantages for the Cs, too. Combine the strong screens with his ability to catch and finish through traffic on the roll or pop and knock down an open triple, and you’ve got yourself a great rotation piece.