Matas Buzelis has spent much of the 2026 NBA offseason talking his way through what he sees as a tougher first year in the league, and now the Chicago Bulls are about to find out what those words mean once the ball goes up.
That conversation reaches the court Wednesday at 7 pm inside the United Center, when the Bulls open NBA 2026-27 preseason play against the Phoenix Suns. After a string of comments that began as a genuine exchange with former teammate Lonzo Ball and later stretched into a pointed message to former NBA players Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, Buzelis has added another layer with remarks comparing his 2025-26 season to what he expects next year to look like.
Those comments have also fueled a separate discussion around Bulls Nation: whether Buzelis is indirectly taking aim at former Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, and, after his practice media availability Tuesday, maybe even former Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.
In one of the offseason quotes drawing attention, Buzelis said, “Last year was hard. There was no type of rhythm.
We didn’t know who was playing. We didn’t know how we’re gonna play.
Now there’s gonna be more structure, everyone’s in a role. You know… ”
He also showed he knows the pushback is real. Buzelis went on social media to defend his comments, apparently responding to a Bulls fan who was critical of the way he’s been speaking about the offseason and what some have taken as thinly veiled criticism of Donovan.
Still, the simplest reality is this: none of the quotes matter much once the Bulls step on the floor Wednesday. His thoughts on shot selection, role, rhythm, and everything else are about to be measured against actual basketball.
Buzelis will have to let his game do the talking in his third NBA season, because Bulls fans are not going to give him endless patience if the production doesn’t follow the talk. There’s room to understand that he may be processing the change around him, especially with Tiago Splitter and Bryson Graham now in those leadership roles instead of Donovan and Karnisovas. People handle that kind of transition in different ways, and Buzelis may simply be one of the players who talks through it.
But that only goes so far. If there isn’t a clear jump in year three, the quotes stop carrying weight. The film will say enough on its own.
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