Matas Buzelis gave the Bulls something they hadn’t gotten from him yet this season: production. He scored 21 points in Chicago’s 124-120 loss to the Washington Wizards, his best game of the year.
But the breakout effort didn’t erase what’s been building over the first three games. The Bulls have real reason to be uneasy.
Buzelis is still one of the most important pieces in Chicago’s future - maybe behind only Caleb Wilson - but his start has been uneven enough to raise eyebrows. There’s still plenty of time for both player and team to sort it out, yet some corrections can’t wait.
The opener set the tone for the concern. Chicago was blown out by 43 points against the Toronto Raptors, and Buzelis led the team with 17 points while adding six rebounds and two blocks.
He also got to the line 16 times, which looked encouraging at first glance. The problem was how he got there: 13 of those 17 points came on free throws, and he made just two baskets all night.
His first field goal didn’t come until late in the opening quarter, and he went 0-for-3 in the second and 0-for-2 in the third. The issue wasn’t only efficiency.
He looked passive.
That stood out even more because Wilson had his own rough night, yet Buzelis, now in his third season, shouldn’t be fading behind a 19-year-old rookie in his first NBA game.
Two nights later against the Bucks, the trend got worse. Buzelis played only 17 minutes and scored seven points in a Bulls win.
By the fourth quarter, he was on the bench while Leonard Miller and Isaac Okoro finished the job. Miller posted 19 points in 24 minutes, and Okoro added 12 in 27.
Then came the Wizards game, where the Bulls entered halftime up 62-57 and Buzelis had 10 points while shooting 3-for-6. But the third quarter changed everything.
Washington outscored Chicago by 20 in those 12 minutes, and Buzelis had almost no imprint on the stretch. He played 7 minutes and 40 seconds and took only two shots, despite Joshua Miranda of Bleacher Nation pointing out that Trae Young was guarding him for much of that time.
Buzelis has now played 160 NBA games, so the Bulls need more than flashes. When the game starts slipping away, he has to be one of the players who responds. Instead, he disappeared while Washington turned the contest and handed Chicago its second loss in three games.
The numbers tell part of the story. Through three games, Buzelis is shooting 36.7 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from three.
He has eight turnovers and five assists. His offensive rating is 104, seventh on the team, sitting behind Buddy Hield’s 105 and ahead of Zach Collins at 102.
His defensive rating is 119, which trails Norman Powell. He has also taken fewer shots than Jalen Smith, even though Smith’s play doesn’t change the fact that one of the organization’s foundational players should be getting more attempts.
What should bother the Bulls most isn’t just the cold shooting or the turnovers or even the defensive issues. It’s how little impact Buzelis has made at key moments. The aggression and competitive edge that put him on an All-Star trajectory haven’t shown up yet, and that’s the part Chicago has to fix first.
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Caleb Wilson Is Giving Bulls Fans Real Hope Before A Brutal Test
Caleb Wilsons first week in the league did not begin the way the Bulls imagined when they made him the fourth overall pick in the 2026 draft, but it has already started to look a lot more like the kind of arrival Chicago was hoping for. After a rough NBA debut, the rookie has shown clear growth, and his breakout performance against Washington gave the Bulls a real glimpse of why they were willing to invest so heavily in him.
For a team trying to build something without superstar firepower, that matters. Tiago Splitter has made it clear that every minute has to be earned and that the Bulls will lean on competition and accountability as they navigate a tough stretch ahead, with young players like Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue learning how quickly roles can change. In that kind of environment, Wilsons development is becoming one of the biggest reasons to keep watching, even before the schedule gets any harsher. [Read more 🡒]
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Caleb Wilson was at the center of the sequence, and the missed whistle became a major talking point because the contact came at a critical point in the shot. For a Bulls team still trying to stack wins in a crowded race, the confirmation does not change the outcome, but it does add another layer of frustration to a loss that already felt hard to swallow. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Rebuild Is About To Face Its First Real Stress Test
The Bulls have been thrown right into the deep end to open the season, with a tough early slate packed with road games and playoff-caliber opponents. It has already produced some losses and plenty of early growing pains, but rookie Caleb Wilson has given Chicago a bright spot with the kind of promise that can matter in a rebuild. For a young roster, this is the sort of stretch that can either speed up development or expose just how much work remains.
Tiago Splitter now has the challenge of keeping that group steady through the grind, especially with the schedule offering little relief in the near term. Chicago is still sorting out its identity while trying to stay competitive against seasoned teams, and the coming run will go a long way toward showing whether the Bulls can absorb these early hits without letting the season start to slip. [Read more 🡒]