Two of the biggest decisions that Luka Garza has ever made involve the University of Iowa.

The first was in the fall of 2016. Garza was a Top 150 prospect who was sorting through offers from Georgetown, Louisville, Indiana, Notre Dame, and nearly 25 other scholarship opportunities when he committed to Fran McCaffery on a Saturday afternoon in early September.

Fast forward to the summer of 2020 where Garza, who is coming off the best individual season ever by an Iowa basketball player, will be deciding on August 2nd if he will return to play one more year for McCaffery or if he will take his talents to the NBA or perhaps to play overseas in Europe.

His father, Frank, says the gravity of the decision is starting to weigh on the Big Ten Player of the Year.

“He’s not getting a lot of sleep,” Fran Garza said with the concern any father would have about his son.

Frank Garza is also quick to point out that the other massive decision that Luka made while at Iowa involved undergoing surgery to remove a massive cyst prior to the start of his sophomore year. Going into the surgery there was a chance that Luka’s career could have ended right there.

Thankfully it didn’t and this past season, Garza had the greatest individual season in Iowa basketball history. He scored 740 points, becoming the first Iowa player to score over 700 in a season. He averaged 23.9 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per contest. In addition to earning the conference player of the year honor, Garza was named the national Player of the Year by The Sporting News and was a consensus first team All American.

If he were to return, Garza is well within range of reshaping the Iowa basketball record book. He currently sits 557 points behind Roy Marble for the top spot in points scored in Hawkeye history and as long as Iowa plays something close to a full season during the Covid-19 pandemic, he should break that record.

But, it has been this crazy process in the most unusual of times that has Garza and what his father calls his Board of Directors, trying to figure out what he will do on Sunday when he has said he will announce if he’s staying in the NBA Draft or returning to Iowa for his senior year.

“I’m a chess player and this whole process is testing me now,” Frank Garza said this week. “It’s our first real experience together with this process and with everything going on in the world, it’s obviously not what we would have expected.”

The elder Garza said that back in April they knew that they would end up receiving an invitation to the NBA Combine, so when that arrived this week it wasn’t a surprise. But, like everything else since the middle of March, it’s unlikely the NBA will hold any pre-draft evaluation events and prospects will not be flying around the country for workouts arranged by teams or agents.

Instead it will be a full scale evaluation based on the film that’s already out there and one of the things that Fran Garza has done is put all the video he can out there to answer the questions that NBA and European scouts might have about his son.

“I was hearing from people who wanted to see the limits of his range, so we went out to over 30 feet and he would make 20 in a row. I have been doing all of those things on my twitter to show scouts what he can do. I have been trying to answer what the scouts would like to see by showing those videos.”

The methodical marketing worked like a charm. While some in the basketball community initially thought that Garza would be a for sure return to Iowa for his senior year based on what NBA scouts were saying and Luka’s comments about needing to find a perfect fit to turn pro, the last few months have seen the NBA interest grow and his willingness to look at other NBA options increase. There’s also six figure deals on the table to play overseas and Covid-19 that looms not only over a potential season of college basketball, but basketball in general.

His father said this whole process, including building towards actually declaring for the NBA and having that as an option began last summer.

“This actually goes back to last summer when he started doing his workouts. We knew would average 25-30 points a game and 10-15 rebounds per game, along with a couple of blocked shots just because it was science,’ Frank Garza said. “Even back as far as last August when we were in California we started talking about would he want to jump to the NBA or look at options in Europe?”

Now the time has arrived where Garza and his Board of Directors will have to make the final call and part of it could involve how much further he wants to define his legacy at Iowa.

“Now it’s about how you want to leave this legacy,” Garza said. “He has built a very good legacy now at Iowa, but how much further does he want to try and take it?”

Does he roll the dice and make a heart centered decision that there will be a college basketball season? Graza could set individual marks and more importantly to him, perhaps finish his Iowa career on the grandest stage, maybe even taking the court on the final night of the season and perhaps leading Iowa to the top of the college basketball world.

Or does he make what would certainly be termed more of a business decision and begin what will be a long and successful professional career either in the NBA or Europe because of the uncertainty surrounding college athletics this fall and winter?

With a pair of teammates testing positive for Covid-19 in the last few days, his initial plan for Saturday will likely have to change a bit, but the final step in this process involves his brothers at Iowa.

“He wants to sit down with his teammates and hear from all of them,” Frank Garza said. “He wants to listen to what they have to say and answer their questions. Then he’s going to let them know his decision before anyone else.”

From there, Garza plans to tell the coaching staff and then on Sunday at an undetermined time, a press release will be sent out from Iowa to tell us whether he’s coming back for his senior year or staying in the NBA Draft process.

Nearly four years ago it was a big decision for Luka Garza when he told Fran McCaffery he was coming to Iowa City and wanted to be a Hawkeye.

Now four years later, we wait to hear from Garza one more time and this time it’s about if he will remain in Iowa City for one more season and put the finishing touches on his already impressive legacy as a Hawkeye.

Will he say yes to Iowa once more time?

Stay tuned. We will all find out on Sunday.