This is not the Matas Buzelis we ordered.
Now supposedly being equipped with the keys to the kingdom, the Chicago Bulls forward was supposed to take a giant leap this season. Instead, under the system of new head coach Tiago Splitter, the 22-year-old hometown hero has looked listless and lost.
Shooting slumps happen. But Matas Buzelis isn't impacting the game at all:Last year to now:FGA: 12.5 ➡️ 9.0 (fewest since rookie year)Rebounds: 5.8 ➡️ 4.3Assists: 2.1 ➡️ 1.8Blocks: 1.5 ➡️ 0.8FG%: 46.3% ➡️ 38.9%Not scoring. Not rebounding. Not creating. Not defending. pic.twitter.com/B2ZKsVaT1i
— Die-Hard Chicago (@DieHard_Chicago) October 27, 2026Through the 1-3 Bulls’ first four bouts, he’s averaging a mediocre 14.0 points on dismal .389/.211/.828 shooting splits, along with 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.5 steals a night, with a career-worst -4.8 box plus-minus. Buzelis has been markedly unaggressive in looking for his shot, and appears to have almost made himself an afterthought with rookie Caleb Wilson now asserting himself.
At times, the Wilson/Buzelis pairing has been pretty potent. Both are springy, athletic forwards who use their first step and length to blow by opposing defenders inside. Both have struggled to connect consistently from beyond the arc. In theory, they could become a lethal fast breaking force. And Wilson, at least, profiles as an all-world defender.
But more often than not this year, they have struggled when playing together on the hardwood. Buzelis is enough of a minus defensively that Splitter will often swap in shooting guard Isaac Okoro to spell him at the ends of games.
Too little too late but Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson are finally getting some momentum going as a duo. pic.twitter.com/DV31mlUsiU
— Ross Pins (@chisportsross) October 22, 2026It’s partly a positional issue. Both players are skinny tweener forwards who thrive in transition and around the bucket. They occupy similar spots on the floor, and Wilson is just better, right now, than Buzelis. Can they eventually thrive coexisting alongside each other? The early returns are pretty bad.
Buzelis underperformed again during Monday’s lopsided loss to the Boston Celtics. He scored just 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, while dishing out a pair of assists (to two turnovers), plus grabbing a rebound and a steal.
Like point guard Josh Giddey — who’s looked even worse this year — Buzelis has often appeared out of sorts and just disinterested.
Chicago Bulls forward Matas Buzelis.Matas Buzelis Explains What’s Gone Wrong with Matas Buzelis
Following the Celtics clash, Buzelis reflected on the challenges he’s faced adjusting to Splitter’s new offense, writes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Buzelis indicated that the additions of Wilson and new Bulls All-Star shooting guard Norman Powell have thrown the incumbents for a bit of a loop.
“We have Norm [Powell], Caleb [Wilson], both ultra-aggressive, so you’ve got to figure out the right time to shoot,” Buzelis said. “Not just me — all of us. That’s why we all watched film together [Sunday], players only, trying to figure out how things need to work.
“Once we figure out our spots, where we want to go, and then everyone figures out what they’re going to shoot, the shots they’re going to take, it will be easier to understand the game. Right now, how we’re [taking shots] is like freestyle. We really don’t know what we have to get into or what sets we have to be aggressive in. But I know this group is very passionate about basketball and what we have to do to get there, how we can compete every night, [to] be the best team we can be.”
Whatever they learned Sunday sure didn’t take on Monday. The Bulls coughed up the ball for a whopping 24 turnovers, which Boston converted into 39 points. The Celtics, in fairness, were similarly careless with the ball — but Chicago’s woeful 3-point shooting (12-of-44 from distance) meant that the club only turned the extra opportunities into 17 points.
The Bulls’ offense, generally, been pretty bad — which is more of a personnel problem than a Splitter problem! Latif Love of No Ceilings observes that Chicago actually paces the NBA in location-effective field goal rate, and rank 30th in mid-range takes. They also get to the foul line with the second-most frequency in the league.
But the Bulls just don’t have the shooters to make as much of a dent as needed on offense, and are incredibly patchy on defense.
Per cleaning the Glass, the Bulls lead the league in location-effective field goal percentage. They're second in the league in free-throw rate. They're last in mid-range frequency. Chicago has an extremely optimized shot diet. The problem is they can't actually make shots at… t.co/tBs8SZ3IVn
— Latif Love (@realLatifLove) October 27, 2026Buzelis insists that the Bulls’ learning curve will eventually yield on-court results this season.
“What do people think — you’re going to come in and get buckets right away?” he said. “It’s a process. I’ve been working really hard, worked hard this summer, so all I need to really do is get out there and trust my skills. I’m still trying to figure out where I can hunt my shots at, where I can be aggressive. And once that happens, we’ll be just fine, all of us.”
He better hope so.
Ahead of the 2026-27 regular season’s tip-off, Chicago picked up its $7.8 million fourth-year team option on Buzelis for 2027-28. If the team can’t reach an extension agreement with Buzelis heading into the last year of his deal, he’ll be a restricted free agent in the summer of 2028. He and Giddey need to prove they can effectively coexist with Wilson. Even if it doesn’t lead to short-term wins, they have to mesh better on the court than they have been.
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