Since the 2015-16 season, the Chicago Bulls have featured merely four All-Stars—Pau Gasol, Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan. While seeing four different players named All-Stars over the last decade isn’t actually substandard, it’s worth noting that Butler was the only homegrown talent.
Aside from Butler, the Bulls have done an inadequate job of developing and retaining young talent. Lauri Markannen earned All-Rookie First Team honors, yet fizzled out in Chicago before flourishing with the Utah Jazz. Former seventh-overall pick Wendell Carter Jr. wasn’t given much of a chance to make his mark as the Bulls dealt him to the Orlando Magic in exchange for then-30-year-old Nikola Vucevic in 2021.
Coby White and Patrick Williams were both All-Rookie Second Team selections, but have undergone roller coaster careers to this point. White is still an ascending talent who has enjoyed two consecutive breakout campaigns, while Williams has seemingly hit a roadblock after signing a five-year, $90 million contract a year ago.
Despite the Bulls’ subpar stretch following Jimmy Butler’s departure and the numerous exceptionally average seasons that followed, Chicago hasn’t been able to find the ideal player to build around, until now.
Bulls’ Buzelis has the makings of a foundational building block
Of course, it’s a tad premature to project Chicago’s 11th overall pick in 2024, Matas Buzelis, as a future star after averaging 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game as a rookie. He wasn’t even a full-time rotation player until late January.
Nevertheless, Buzelis has all the makings of a multi-time All-Star. He’s 6-foot-10, with a guard-like handle. He’s an above-average shooter who shot 36.1 percent from beyond the arc on decent volume as a rookie. The 20-year-old isn’t just a one-way player; his impact defensively might be better than it is offensively. He’s a skilled weakside defender and projects as one of the better shot-blocking wings in the NBA. He swatted away the fifth-most shots among rookies last season.
The Bulls haven’t rostered a two-way, do-it-all wing with this much potential since… Jimmy Butler? And Butler didn’t even burst onto the scene. He earned his playing time with his unmatched toughness and defensive versatility before evolving into one of the NBA’s best forwards. Unlike Butler, Buzelis has already earned a starting role, one that Butler didn’t secure until his age-24 season.
Moreover, Buzelis’s on-court potential isn’t the only attribute that hints at star potential. The 20-year-old has displayed a sense of poise well beyond his years. He demonstrated a readiness unbeknownst to most rookies, while seeing his minutes fluctuate, and was routinely praised by Billy Donovan throughout last season.
Buzelis is rapidly becoming the face of the Bulls. From giving rookies Noa Essengue and Lachlan Olbrich a tour of Chicago’s facilities and the Windy City itself, to modeling the Bulls’ brand new look—the face of the franchise has arrived.
