When Luka Garza signed with the Boston Celtics last summer, the fan reaction was lukewarm at best. More casual supporters weren’t familiar with his game, and those who were more tuned in likely only had memories of his days dominating the Big 10 at Iowa.
His first eight games with the Celtics didn’t exactly turn heads either, with the most memorable moment being his opening night concussion against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“I think there were a lot of ups and downs this year,” Garza said at Sunday’s media availability at the Auerbach Center. “Obviously, as a team at the start of the year it wasn't really going our way.”
Signing in Boston presented Garza with an opportunity he had yet to see in the NBA. With how depleted their frontcourt was projected to be, there were almost certainly going to be minutes for him in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.
There almost weren’t, though.
Game nine is where things changed for Garza. It was the second of two away matchups with the Orlando Magic. The 27-year-old was in the midst of a four-game stretch where he converted just one of 10 attempts from the field, and was a net negative in each contest.
Then, Mazzulla pulled Garza aside and lit a fire underneath him.
“Joe really challenged me in the beginning of this season,” the big man explained. “It was a moment before one of our Orlando games on the road, and he was really challenging me. He wanted more out of me and was telling me that, really putting me on the spot. If I wasn't able to perform, he was going to go in a different direction.”
Garza gave Mazzulla more that night. He tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, and three assists in 17 minutes against the Magic. Six of those minutes came in the fourth quarter, when Garza was trusted to play in crunch time of a "clutch game” (within five points in the final five minutes, as defined by the league).
“I was able to step up in that moment.”
Garza continued to earn favor with coaches and fans with his hustle
Garza’s rotation spot wasn’t granted there, though. He saw the court in the Celtics’ next five games, before, ironically, logging a DNP-CD in Boston’s next matchup with Orlando. He had to continuously earn his playing time all season.
“That kind of repeatedly happened throughout the year, where he challenged me and gave me another opportunity, or whatever it was.I think the repeated ability to kind of take advantage of those opportunities and stay ready.”
The fifth-year pro’s confidence continued to grow as he consistently rose to Mazzulla’s challenges. Time after time he’d deliver when his number was called, and time after time he’d prove to Mazzulla and himself that he belonged on the court in one way or another.
Perhaps the most memorable example came in mid-December, when Garza re-emerged in the lineup after four straight absences. He stole the show up at Scotiabank Arena in a 112-96 victory over the Toronto Raptors, when he logged a 12-point, 10-rebound, double-double off the bench.
Nine of those boards came on the offensive glass -- an area of excellence for Garza. He made a consistent impact there all season, oftentimes giving Boston a needed energy boost off of the bench. He ranked 16th in the league in offensive rebounding percentage, for players who averaged more than 15 minutes per game.
Once he found his niche, it became easy for Garza to make an impact.
“Obviously, when we got kind of rolling midway through the year, it’d been like a couple months after that Toronto game where I was in a rotation, we were winning. You know, that was huge for me, huge for my confidence. At that point, it was the first time I had really been contributing at a consistent rate on a team that's winning at a high level.”
He averaged career-highs across the board at 8.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game on an efficient 57.7% from the field and 43.3% from beyond the arc (on nearly two attempts per outing).
Garza’s contributions were felt so greatly that when the Celtics acquired veteran center and former All-Star Nikola Vucevic in February, he didn’t see himself glued to the bench.
Boston still found spot minutes for him, and he regained a spot in the rotation when Vucevic broke his finger in early March.
Garza set a foundation to continue building in Boston
Garza represented much of what the 2025-26 Celtics were about -- a group of hard-working guys with a chip on their shoulder and a desire to prove their doubters wrong.
“So that meant a lot to me, and prove myself right in a lot of ways, and prove a lot of people that put a lot into me over the last couple of years and over my whole life [right, too.]”
For Garza, his first season in Boston was just the beginning. It’s something he hopes to build on over the summer and return to the team even better when training camp rolls around.
“I love it here. I feel like I fit the culture here in the locker room and what they're trying to do. It's just been such a pleasure working with this coaching staff and these guys on this team. Part of the reason I think this year was able to be a breakthrough season was because of that coaching staff, because these guys on the floor that kind of helped me kind of find what my role is, what it looks like to be a rotation guy, what it looks like to come in and impact the game.”
Contributing to winning remains the most important thing.
“I hope I can be here a while. I know that winning comes with this city, and I want to win.”
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