Luka Garza returning to Timberwolves on a two-way contract

Center Luka Garza will be back with the Timberwolves next season.

Garza agreed to another two-way contract with the Wolves on Sunday, a source confirmed. Even among a crowded depth chart at center last season, Garza showed flashes of promise on the offensive end when he earned minutes in the NBA, and he put up big numbers in the G League at Iowa.

With the Wolves, Garza, the former Big Ten Player of the Year and Naismith Award winner with the Iowa Hawkeyes, averaged 6.5 points on 8.7 minutes per game while shooting 54% from the floor. In the G League, he averaged 29.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game with the Iowa Wolves last season.

He was the MVP of the G-League's "Next Up" game at All-Star Weekend, in a game that featured Scoot Henderson of Portland, the No. 3 pick of this year's draft.

Garza was a camp signee last season and impressed coaches enough to earn a two-way roster spot last season, and he will return as one of the three two-way roster slots the Wolves have this season. That number is up from two in the new collective bargaining agreement.

Garza was battling for playing time in a crowded center depth chart behind Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Nathan Knight. The Wolves declined to guarantee Knight's contract for next season and he became a free agent, meaning Garza now appears to be the clear No. 4 center behind Towns, Gobert and Reid.