Matas Buzelis has spent his first two seasons in Chicago looking less like a finished product and more like a player who keeps finding new gears.
That’s the encouraging part for the Bulls. Buzelis, 21, has already carved out a reputation as one of the NBA’s better young two-way wings, pairing strong on-ball defense with the kind of explosive playmaking that can swing possessions. He’s also shown enough scoring talent to suggest there’s another level coming if the volume is scaled correctly.
At 6'8" with explosive athleticism and three-level scoring potential, Buzelis gives Chicago exactly the kind of wing presence it needs as Caleb Wilson settles in as a modern 4.
The leap from promising piece to centerpiece, though, comes down to whether all of those traits can start working together at the same time. If that happens, Buzelis won’t just be part of the Bulls’ future. He’ll be one of the two players the franchise builds around.
His 2025-26 numbers back up the buzz. Buzelis averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.5 blocks, 0.7 steals and 2.2 three-point field goals made while shooting .463/.349/.786. The jumper still needs work, especially on the efficiency side, but the year-over-year growth was hard to miss.
The jump from his rookie season to his sophomore year was especially striking. Buzelis raised his production by 7.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.6 blocks, 0.3 steals and 1.0 three-point field goal made per game. A better 4.3 percent mark on two-point field goals helped, but so did real progress on defense.
That defensive growth showed up in the numbers in a big way. In perimeter isolation defense, Buzelis went from the 16th percentile in 2024-25 to the 84th percentile in 2025-26, per Basketball Index. His matchup difficulty as a defender climbed from the 39th percentile to the 72nd, and his screener mobile defense took an even bigger leap, from the 33rd percentile to the 88th.
The offensive gains were just as important. Buzelis moved from the 17th percentile to the 65th percentile in rim shot making efficiency, and from the 12th percentile to the 63rd percentile in self-created shot making efficiency.
That’s a lot of growth for a 21-year-old who is still finding his way in the league, especially with Chicago’s priorities not exactly centered on winning in 2025-26. Even so, the development has been steady enough to make his trajectory feel real rather than theoretical.
With Nic Claxton now in the frontcourt and Wilson joining him as another promising two-way rookie, Buzelis has a chance to make his third season the one where everything starts to click. The concerns are still there - consistency as a shooter, whether his thin frame can absorb postseason physicality, and how far his scoring can scale - but the bigger truth is impossible to ignore.
He’s already a dynamic two-way player. And he still looks like he’s only scratching the surface.
In Other News...
Josh Giddey Faces A Defining Bulls Fit Test This Season
Josh Giddey is heading into his third season with the Bulls with something bigger than a contract year or a box score check-in hanging over him. Chicagos front office and coaching staff are pushing a new offensive philosophy built around pace and ball movement, and that puts Giddey in the middle of a familiar modern NBA question: how much on-ball responsibility should a player keep when the system wants the ball moving faster and more often? For a team still trying to define its identity, his fit could be one of the clearest early signs of whether the approach is working.
The challenge for Giddey is less about talent than usage, and that is where the season gets interesting. Chicago does not need him to be the same kind of possession-starter on every trip if the offense is going to look the way the staff wants, which means the next step is finding the right balance between creating and complementing. If he can settle into that role cleanly, the Bulls may have a better answer for what their new offense is supposed to be. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Enter Camp With One Health Question Still Lingering
Training camp is opening with the Bulls still sorting out the health picture, and for most of the roster, the signs are encouraging. Around the league, several notable names have already offered upbeat updates, with Tyrese Haliburton saying he is fully healthy after his Achilles injury, Stephen Curry reporting no current limitations, Luka Doncic cleared after a hamstring strain and Bradley Beal working back from hip surgery while also managing knee inflammation.
For Chicago, the larger issue is less about the star power and more about how many bodies are ready to go once camp begins. Josh Giddey has no restrictions after offseason ankle surgery, which helps settle one question, but there is still at least one lingering concern in camp as the Bulls get set to start Tuesday. Of the teams health questions, this is the one that could matter most if it stretches into the preseason. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Just Sent A Clear Message About Where This Front Office Is Headed
The Bulls keep signaling a shift toward a younger, more modern basketball operations structure, and their latest move fits that pattern. Michael Reinsdorf announced the hiring of Bryson Graham into the front office, adding another voice to the basketball operations department as Chicago continues reshaping the way it staffs key decision-making roles.
Graham arrives with experience that should matter right away, having spent much of his career with the Pelicans before a run as vice president of basketball operations with the Hawks. For a Bulls organization trying to reset its internal direction, the hire says plenty about the kind of profile it is now targeting, even if the broader picture of how this new group will ultimately take shape is still coming into focus. [Read more 🡒]