Matas Buzelis has already been stamped as a foundational piece for the 2026-27 Chicago Bulls, but that label does not make him untouchable. In a league where every player has a price, the Bulls wing fits that reality too - even if a trade would be far from the team’s first choice.
That matters because Buzelis is heading into the third season of his rookie-scale deal, the stage where extension talks can start to get serious, or not happen at all. And while Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham has spent the 2026 offseason talking up flexibility and a simple 2026-27 goal of organizational clarity, the message underneath is hard to miss: no one on the roster should be treated as completely off limits, with perhaps the exception of Caleb Wilson.
Still, there’s a big difference between keeping the door cracked open and actually walking through it. The Bulls do not need to move Buzelis, and they certainly should not be hunting for a trade just for the sake of it. If anything, there are other players who ought to be discussed before Buzelis ever comes up in a call with another team.
For the Bulls to seriously consider that kind of move, several things would have to happen fast over the next two seasons. Caleb Wilson would need to become an All-NBA player.
Buzelis’ development would have to lag behind Wilson’s. And Chicago would need to have extra draft picks in hand before even thinking about putting Buzelis on the market.
If that scenario ever arrives, the first name on the Bulls’ wish list in return would be Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley.
Mobley is the kind of player whose value is tied to both performance and team context. The Cavaliers already know what a hard ceiling can look like after reaching the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 2026 for the first time since 2018, only to get swept by the eventual 2025-26 NBA champion New York Knicks. Financial pressure is part of the picture too: Cleveland has already taken a second apron penalty in the form of a frozen 2033 first-round pick, and Spotrac has the team $12.8 million away from the second apron.
A Buzelis-for-Mobley framework would suggest Cleveland is still built around Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt, while possibly looking for a frontcourt player who can provide a steadier scoring punch than Mobley has.
From Chicago’s side, the logic only works if Wilson becomes the kind of star who makes Buzelis feel more like a duplicate than a complement. Mobley, absent a major injury, should remain a high-level defender for a long time, and that profile could make sense next to a creator like Wilson if he grows into an unquestioned All-NBA force.
But there’s no clean version of this kind of deal. If the Bulls ever tried to land a player like Mobley, they would likely have to attach draft capital, just as the New York Knicks sent out extra first-round value to get Karl-Anthony Towns in 2024.
That’s why the Bulls’ stockpile of draft picks matters so much. Without surplus capital in reserve, Chicago would have a hard time entering a trade conversation of this size without risking its own draft future.
In Other News...
Bulls Camp Is Already Changing How Fans Should See These Two Youngsters
The Bulls have wrapped up their first week of training camp, and the early returns have given the team a little more to work with when it comes to two young players trying to carve out roles. Head coach Tiago Splitter has pointed to noticeable growth across the roster, but second-year forward Noa Essengue has stood out for the kind of progress that can change how a prospect is viewed before the season even begins.
Essengues camp showing has looked different from his Summer League run, while Dailyn Swain is working through a bigger adjustment of his own as he settles into a lead-guard, distributor role. It is a meaningful shift for Swain after being used more as an ISO scorer at Texas, and the early stretch of camp suggests the Bulls are still sorting out just how quickly he can translate that change into real backcourt value. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Young Core Already Faces A Big Tiago Splitter Test
The Bulls are asking a young roster to grow up with some help from a veteran who has seen just about everything the league can throw at a player. Norman Powell brings 11 NBA seasons and a recent All-Star appearance to a group that is still sorting out its identity, and he has already signaled that he wants to be more than just a name in the locker room. For a team trying to build something sturdier around its younger pieces, that kind of voice matters.
Under Tiago Splitters new staff, the early message has been less about flash and more about structure, with Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue among the players adjusting to new roles and different expectations. Powells presence should help smooth that transition, but it also puts a spotlight on how quickly Chicagos young core can absorb those lessons and turn them into real on-court progress. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Have Better Uses For Pelicans Ties Than This Reunion
Bryson Grahams ties to New Orleans have already shown up once for the Bulls, with the Chicago executive helping bring in veteran shooter Buddy Hield, a player the Pelicans originally drafted. So when another former Pelicans connection surfaced this week, it was natural to wonder whether Chicago might have another angle to explore through that familiar pipeline.
Memphis waived Jordan Hawkins, the ex-Pelicans first-round pick, but the fit in Chicago does not appear likely. Hawkins was a prolific college shooter at UConn, yet he has not carried that success into the NBA, and the Bulls are looking for more immediate help than another reclamation project. For now, the more relevant takeaway is that Grahams New Orleans background can still be useful, just probably not in this particular case. [Read more 🡒]