Matas Buzelis has already started building a reputation around the NBA, and that buzz got louder after his appearance on the Cousins with Vince Carter & Tracy McGrady podcast during the 2026 NBA offseason.
The Bulls fan reaction was immediate. But buried underneath the debate was something more interesting: Buzelis has already built a working relationship with Kevin Durant, and that makes plenty of sense.
Durant is the kind of player young wings study for a reason. He’s a two-time NBA Champion and the 2013-14 NBA Most Valuable Player, and his career resume is stacked with the kind of hardware that only a tiny group of players have ever touched - NBA championships, NBA All-Star appearances, Olympic Gold Medals, NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP, NBA All-Star Game MVP, All-NBA team selections, NBA Rookie of the Year, NBA scoring titles, and a spot among the 75 greatest NBA players of all time.
For a player like Buzelis, there’s obvious value in that connection. He and Durant share a similar physical profile in terms of height and build, and it’s easy to see why Buzelis would want to pull as much as he can from that kind of experience. If those conversations lead him to lean more into midrange jumpers, that fits too.
Still, Durant shouldn’t be the only name in the mix.
If Buzelis is serious about widening the lens on his career path, Mikal Bridges should be right there alongside Durant as a player he can learn from. Bridges may not have the same résumé or the same body type, but he brings something else that matters: deep playoff experience, two NBA Finals, and soon an NBA championship ring on his ring finger of choice.
That matters for a young wing entering his third NBA season. Buzelis has to stay open to the idea that his best version might not be as a number one option or an MVP candidate. Only he can prove otherwise, but he also has to be ready if his future looks more like a co-star on a winning team.
That’s where Bridges fits. He went from being a low-ceiling main guy with the Brooklyn Nets to a properly slotted supporting piece on the reigning NBA Champion Knicks roster. Along the way, he kept taking the shots that helped his team and built an NBA All-Defensive Team reputation.
If Buzelis ends up on a Kevin Durant track, great. If not, a Mikal Bridges-style career would still be the kind of path that gets respected for a long time by the ball-knowers of the world.
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Caleb Wilson Could Put The Bulls Back On Basketballs Biggest Stage
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For the Bulls, the national-team angle adds another layer to Wilsons development because it hints at a ceiling that stretches well past ordinary roster value. The path is still a long one, but Chicago has not had a player in the Olympic mix for Team USA since Zach LaVine, and Wilsons name is already being discussed in that kind of future-facing context. [Read more 🡒]