Luka Garza shares powerful message after validating season with Celtics

At Summer League, Luka Garza made it clear why he left the Minnesota Timberwolves, his NBA home for the previous three years, to join the Boston Celtics.

"It was time to find that opportunity to get on the floor," Garza said in Sin City. "It was a priority for me to get to somewhere where I could get more of those opportunities." 

Mission accomplished. He went from averaging 5.6 minutes the season before to 16.2 in his first campaign in Boston. He went from appearing in 39 games to 69. And with greater opportunities, he showed he belongs in the NBA.

Garza's defining trait is his hustle. He has always understood he's not going to win with athleticism. To circumnavigate that, he is relentless. He is a gifted offensive rebounder. His secret sauce? An all-out pursuit of every shot the Celtics launch, including his own.

The fifth-year center is also a savvy and effective screener. Repeatedly, he freed teammates for open looks or to get downhill. He also demonstrated an excellent sense of timing, knowing how long to hold each pick and when to slip to the basket quickly or flare beyond the arc.

He stated his belief in his ability to give Boston a reliable floor-spacing five, then backed up his claim. Garza knocked down 43.3 percent of the 1.8 threes he hoisted.

He averaged 8.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in the 2025-26 campaign. When he was out of the lineup, he stayed ready. Then, the former National Player of the Year capitalized when Joe Mazzulla called his number again. It showed a dependability that influenced the decision to start him in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers. While not alone in this, he could boost the offense while personifying the hustle, energy, and grit that defined the Celtics in the regular season.

After Game 7, Garza took a moment to soak in the most significant step of his career.

"Last night, I tried to take a second to just sit in it after the game in the locker room, and, yeah, I was just overcome with a lot of gratitude just to see a spot, I mean, compared to last year, in the last few years, where there were moments where I never thought anything like this would happen," he conveyed at exit interviews a day after Boston's season reached its final stop. So, obviously, I worked, and coach trusted me, and I took advantage of a lot of opportunities that led to this point, and I'm just going to continue to do that."

In Minnesota, Garza had watched teammates like Naz Reid and Nickeil Alexander-Walker go from sitting next to him on the bench to carving out their places in the NBA. A player known for his passion had a burning desire to chart a similar path. In his first year in Boston, he set sail.

Now, he gets to build off the most validating season of his career.

"If anything, this is a lot of fuel that's added to a fire that's pretty well burning already," voiced Garza from the Auerbach Center podium. "So, I'm just going to continue to do what I can every single day to improve myself, just to try to help this team and organization, and that's my plan this summer, and I'm gonna continue to do that for next year."

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