The Chicago Bulls have lost Caleb Wilson for the next four-to-six weeks after it was announced that he would undergo surgery on his fractured hand. In turn, Chicago has lost the player who's No. 1 on the team in field goal attempts, steals, and threes, and second in points. That's left quite a void to be filled—and a spotlight resting squarely on Matas Buzelis.
With Wilson sidelined until December, the door is wide open for Buzelis to prove that he's still a franchise cornerstone after a tough start to the 2026-27 season.
Buzelis turned the 2025-26 campaign into what appeared to be momentum toward a leap to stardom. He averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.5 blocks, 0.7 steals, and 2.2 three-point field goals made in 29.2 minutes per game, shooting at a clip of .463/.349/.786.
For what it's worth: Buzelis was one of two players who recorded at least 1,200 points, 100 blocks, and 100 threes in 2025-26. The only other individual on that list: Victor Wembanyama.
Unfortunately, Buzelis hasn't exactly recaptured the magic during the early stages of the 2026-27 campaign. He's shooting just 42.9 percent from the field and 31.4 percent from three-point range, and is blocking half as many shots per 36 minutes while averaging 1.5 fewer points.
Though Buzelis will ultimately need to figure out how to thrive alongside Wilson if he wants to be a long-term piece of the puzzle, opportunity is knocking for him to prove himself in the franchise player's absence.
Bulls need Matas Buzelis to step up with Caleb Wilson out
There's a fairly massive void to be filled on offense with Wilson sidelined. He's averaging a team-leading 16.2 field goal attempts per game, which is 3.3 more than second-leading player Norman Powell at 12.9 and 6.4 more than Buzelis, who's No. 3, at 9.8.
If the current team rankings are a sign of things to come, however, it appears as though Powell and Buzelis will shoulder the heftiest workloads from a scoring perspective.
That may actually prove ideal for Buzelis, whose downhill capabilities can be complemented by Powell's elite range—even if he is struggling individually at the moment. With Josh Giddey running the offense and a healthy Nic Claxton helping to replace Wilson, scoring should be a manageable goal.
One simply can't help but question how well Buzelis fits under head coach Tiago Splitter based on how he's shot and generally played early in the 2026-27 campaign.
If Buzelis steps up and gets back to his 2025-26 level, then Wilson should be able to return to a rotation that won't force him to carry quite as heavy of a burden as he thus far has. There may still be a learning curve for Buzelis to figure out how to play off of Wilson, but he'll have established positive individual momentum nevertheless.
If he struggles to, however, then the Bulls may need to revisit the long-term viability of this pairing in the months that follow as they look to cultivate the best possible rotation to support Wilson.
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