BOSTON — The NBA Rising Stars game Friday night in Inglewood, California, isn’t where Bulls forward Matas Buzelis really wants to be.
He’ll take the opportunity. He’ll speak about it with gratitude. But he sees Rising Stars — the NBA’s annual showcase for rookies, second-year players like himself and G League players — as a rung on his ladder.
“Everything is exciting for me still,” Buz-elis, 21, said before heading west to Los Angeles for All-Star weekend. “Anything you get to participate in is an honor and exciting. But I’m not going to lie: Yeah, I want to be in that Sunday game for sure.”
The All-Star Game itself, being surrounded by the NBA’s best, always has been Buzelis’ goal since the Bulls drafted him 11th overall in 2024. But, as he has learned, chasing that goal doesn’t come without some bruises and disappointment, including last week.
Gone from the Bulls’ locker room are a majority of the veteran players who mentored him as a rookie last season and into the summer. Center Nikola Vucevic, guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu and guard/forward Kevin Huerter all were traded before the deadline last week.
Buzelis hasn’t been bad in the four games since the roster turnover. He just hasn’t had takeover moments — not like fellow rookies Cooper Flagg (Mavericks) and Kon Knueppel (Hornets) have had this season. His highlights have been more teases than trends, and he knows it.
“I’m fully capable of becoming a great player, and this is just the process it’s going to be for me,” Buzelis said. “But I know for a fact that every year, I’m going to get better as a player. I know that will happen. I’m going to work extremely hard, push myself until exhaustion to become that player. I’m more worried about this team, and as a collective group what [we can] achieve. I’m all up for the challenge of becoming whatever people say or believe: All-Star, yada, yada.”
Asked if he had concerns about Buzelis’ recent play, coach Billy Donovan said there’s a larger cooperation issue among the Bulls.
“I totally understand on the stat sheet that assists are going to be a reflection of made baskets, and consistently before [the trades], we were a team that was [totaling] 28 to 30-some assists per game, but we [came] out of the first half [Wednesday against the Celtics] with eight assists,” Donovan said. “We need to learn how to play the right way — everybody. Whether it be Matas or Patrick [Williams], they’ve been here, and they know how we have to play. Nobody is going to look good when you’re not helping each other.”
For Buzelis, that’s not the end of it when it comes to looking good. Winning is his top priority, and it’s starting to sink in that the Bulls — 24-31 and on a six-game losing streak — could miss the play-in tournament.
“It’s hard, but what can you do?” he said. “You’re not going home and crying about it. You’ve just got to wake up and get back to work. I do understand that it’s going to be difficult to get into a groove as a team, but we’re all up for that challenge. Sooner or later, the sun will shine.”
How about Friday night in California?
“This game is the league’s future, and there is a lot of hype around some of these guys,” Buzelis said. “I’m looking forward to going out there and competing against them, sharing a moment, building relationships with them. But if it goes down to a one-on-one situation against any guy, we’re going at each other, and that’s just how it is.”
