{"id":10790,"date":"2025-07-15T04:43:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10790\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:43:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:43:04","slug":"luka-garza-explains-why-he-decided-to-join-celtics-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/10790\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka Garza explains why he decided to join Celtics in free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cI felt like in the limited opportunities I was able to get, I was able to show well and maximize those.”<\/p>\n

\"Newly
\n\tLuka Garza signed a two-year contract with the Celtics in July. John Tlumacki \/ Boston Globe Staff\t<\/p>\n

The Boston Celtics might be in line for some growing pains in 2025-26.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Jayson Tatum expected to be sidelined for most of the year while rehabbing a torn Achilles, several other players in Boston\u2019s frontcourt will need to step up with those reps up for grabs.<\/p>\n

To further compound matters for Boston, the Celtics have already lost familiar faces in Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Luke Kornet via trade or free agency \u2014 while Al Horford is also unlikely to return.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

But as painful as this offseason has been thus far for Celtics fans, those minutes up front for Boston is why big man Luka Garza opted to sign a two-year deal in free agency.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the franchise speaks for itself and just the winning and the history,\u201d Garza told MassLive\u2019s Brian Robb at Summer League<\/a> about the reason why he joined Boston earlier this summer. \u201cI\u2019m a big basketball junkie, so obviously the chance to put on that uniform and play for the Celtics is attractive enough. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut obviously there\u2019s a lot of opportunity, especially in the frontcourt and with the guys that we have. I think the front office and the coaches believe in me and what I can do, so I just saw that as really good for me at this stage in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garza played limited minutes over the last few seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, including just 5.6 minutes per contest during the 2024-25 season. In three years with Minnesota, Garza only logged a total of 584 minutes played as a depth option on the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I learned so much from my time in Minnesota from being around those type of guys, but I think it was time to find that opportunity to get on the floor,\u201d Garza said. \u201cI felt like in the limited opportunities I was able to get, I was able to show well and maximize those. But for me it was a priority for me to get somewhere where I could get more of those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if it\u2019s unlikely that Garza will be thrust right into a featured role on a retooling Boston roster, he should be in line for a greater role in 2025-26 \u2014 especially on a Celtics depth chart that has Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman, and Amari Williams standing as the next men up on Boston\u2019s frontcourt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite his limited reps with Minnesota in 2024-25, the 26-year-old Garza still averaged 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds per game \u2014 with Brad Stevens praising Garza\u2019s production during those limited opportunities last week at the Auerbach Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for guys on those contracts that have upside, that are competitors, that are workers, that want to be good, that haven\u2019t hit their peak yet \u2014 but we\u2019ve seen something in them that we think gives them a chance to be very impactful,\u201d Stevens said of Boston\u2019s free-agent signings of Garza and fellow Minnesota bench player Josh Minott. <\/a>\u201cLuka obviously has been a stats darling, but in limited time behind very, very good players.<\/p>\n

Even if Garza is far from a proven product, the former collegiate standout at Iowa believes he has a lot to offer to his new team in Boston.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think number one just the skill that I have more than anything is playing hard,\u201d Garza said. \u201cI think that helps me and makes up for a lot of things that I don\u2019t have, but obviously through being in the league four years I\u2019ve learned a lot more and have a better understanding, a better IQ in angles and the different things that can help me out there, especially on the defensive end.<\/p>\n

\u201cOffensively, I know that\u2019s the side that I have a lot of confidence in that I can really help a team in many ways, just create good offense, create good flow within it and always be able to help get shots up there whether it\u2019s for myself or my teammates, through screening, passing, whatever it is, I just feel like that\u2019s a strength of mine that I\u2019ve been able to show in the times that I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Celtics updates\ud83c\udfc0<\/p>\n

Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during basketball season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtics \u201cI felt like in the limited opportunities I was able to get, I was able to show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-10790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}