Amen Thompson’s new extension in Houston may have done more than reward a breakout season. It also gave the Bulls a clean reference point for a decision that’s coming down the road with Matas Buzelis.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Thompson and the Rockets agreed to a five-year, $208 million extension. The deal keeps him in Houston and includes a 10% trade kicker.
Thompson was eligible for an extension because he is entering the final season of his rookie-scale contract in 2026-27.
The timing matters because Thompson’s rise gives Chicago something concrete to study. With Buzelis extension-eligible in the 2027 offseason, Bulls forward Matas Buzelis and Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham now have a solid benchmark to target.
Thompson’s 2025-26 season was the kind of leap front offices love to use as a measuring stick. He stepped into the Rockets’ starting point guard role after Fred VanVleet’s season-ending injury and turned that opening into a major jump. In 79 regular-season games, Thompson averaged 18.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals.
That kind of production is especially useful in the Buzelis conversation because the two players reached their third seasons in a similar place. Thompson entered his third year after a second-season scoring bump, going from 9.5 points per game as a rookie to 14.1 in 2024-25. Buzelis, meanwhile, went from 8.6 points per game as a rookie to 16.3 by the end of the Bulls’ 2025-26 season.
The difference is that Thompson didn’t just score more. He also earned an NBA All-Defensive First Team selection while raising his offensive output. That combination makes his case stand out as Chicago evaluates what Buzelis can become.
Thompson’s shift to point guard gave him a bigger playmaking load, and he responded with career highs in assists and steals while also setting a new scoring mark. He finished with 5.3 assists per game and 1.5 steals per game, along with the 18.3 points per game that capped his best season yet.
There’s another layer to Thompson’s rise that makes him a useful comp for Buzelis: efficiency. Across his NBA career, Thompson has posted an 18.8% usage rate, according to Basketball Reference, while still producing impact on both ends.
For Buzelis, the extension question will come back to the same basic issues Thompson just answered in Houston: can he push his offense forward without needing a massive usage spike, and can he grow into a more complete defender rather than just a shot-blocker?
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