Player outlook
Matas Buzelis is a sixth-round forward with a third-round roto case
Chicago's young forward pairs center-level shot blocking with real three-point volume, and he does it nearly every night. Head-to-head drafters can afford to wait; roto drafters who wait will watch someone else bank the games.
Three players on the 2026–27 Ball Ranks board are projected for at least 1.5 blocks and two threes per game. Victor Wembanyama ranks second overall. Myles Turner ranks 87th. The third is Matas Buzelis, a 22-year-old Chicago forward who ranks 65th per game and 29th once the games are counted.
Model Zero projects 17.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 2.3 threes, 46.2% shooting, and 77.5% at the line in 30.7 minutes across 76 games. The blocks are the spine of the profile. On our board they are worth more than his points and rebounds combined, and they supply well over half of his total value.
Nobody needs convincing that the profile is real. The draft question is which format pays full price for it.
The Vučević trade made him Chicago's rim protector
Chicago sent Nikola Vučević to Boston on February 3. Before February, Buzelis averaged 1.35 blocks in 28.1 minutes across 49 games. From February on, he averaged 1.79 blocks in 31.0 minutes across 28 games. The rate climbed along with the minutes, from 1.7 blocks per 36 minutes to 2.1.
The offense grew with the defensive role. Over the season's final four months, he averaged 17.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 threes, and 1.6 blocks in 30.6 minutes. March was the peak: 20.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.1 threes, and 1.8 blocks on 16.3 shots a night.
Matas Buzelis's Blocks per game trend
Blocks per game by month, 25-26.
Full data
| Month | Blocks per game |
|---|---|
| Oct | 1 (5 games) |
| Nov | 1.6 (14 games) |
| Dec | 1.3 (14 games) |
| Jan | 1.3 (16 games) |
| Feb | 2 (11 games) |
| Mar | 1.8 (14 games) |
| Apr | 1 (3 games) |
Model Zero bets on the second half, not on a third leap
Buzelis went from 18.9 minutes and 8.6 points as a rookie to 29.2 minutes and 16.3 points last season. The projection does not ask for another jump of that size. It asks him to repeat the second half of last season: 30.7 minutes against 30.6, 17.4 points against 17.9, 6.2 rebounds against 6.3.
Two numbers move. Threes come down from 2.7 to 2.3, and field-goal percentage rises from 45.0% to 46.2%, close to his full-season 46.3%. Blocks settle at 1.5, about where his per-minute rate sat before the trade rather than at the post-deadline spike.
For a 22-year-old entering his third season, that is a careful read of the offense. The threes are the likeliest place for it to run low: he made at least 2.6 per game in each of January, February, and March. If that volume carries into this season, his per-game rank climbs without any help from the blocks.
Seventy-six games is the whole roto argument
Buzelis is the only player in the per-game top 65 projected for 76 or more games. He played 80 as a rookie and 77 last season. That availability moves him 36 spots on Ball Ranks' totals board, from 65th to 29th, ahead of Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, and Jalen Johnson.
In roto, the totals rank is the one the standings count. Every game he plays that a comparable forward misses adds blocks, threes, and points a manager never has to replace from the waiver wire.
Head-to-head is different. A weekly matchup rewards what a player does on the nights he plays, and on those nights Buzelis is a sixth-round line. His availability still matters in a four-game week, but it does not raise his weekly ceiling. Managers in games-cap leagues sit between the two, closer to roto the tighter the cap.
Punt assists is the build he was made for
His weaknesses are cheap. Assists and steals sit just below average at 2.2 and 0.7, and his percentages are close to neutral: 46.2% on 13.3 attempts and 77.5% on 3.3 attempts. The one real cost is 2.2 turnovers, the largest negative in his line.
That shape fits punt assists cleanly. Take assists out of the scoring and his remaining eight categories rank 40th on the board. Drop turnovers as well and he ranks 38th. Punt FT% and punt FG% builds gain much less, 55th and 59th, because his percentages were never hurting him.
The build that should avoid him is punt blocks. Without them, his line falls to 121st. A manager who opens with high-volume guards and plans to give up blocks should let someone else pay for a profile built at the rim.
Claxton and Wilson could take the blocks back
The case against Buzelis is the frontcourt Chicago built around him. The Bulls acquired Nic Claxton from Brooklyn in June, then took Caleb Wilson fourth overall; Wilson averaged 1.4 blocks in his one season at North Carolina. Sports Illustrated's projected starting lineup puts Buzelis at small forward, with Wilson at power forward and Claxton at center.
That is a different job from the one he held in February and March. Claxton projects for 1.3 blocks in 27.1 minutes. A forward playing beside a starting center and a rookie four may get fewer chances to be the last line of defense, and blocks are the category doing most of his work. If they slide back toward his pre-trade rate in fewer frontcourt minutes, nothing else in the line is large enough to replace them.
Shots are the second pressure point. Chicago signed Norman Powell, who projects for 18.9 points, and Josh Giddey projects for 18.4 points and 9.6 assists. The projection already trims Buzelis's late-season threes; a slow start beside Powell would trim them further.
The counterargument is Model Zero's own read of the rookie: 20.5 minutes and 0.4 blocks for Wilson. The projection expects Buzelis to keep most of the rim work even with company.
Pay for the games in roto and the blocks everywhere else
In a 12-team roto league, the late third round is defensible and the fourth is the target. In head-to-head, take him in the sixth, and move him up to the fourth for punt-assists builds. Managers punting blocks should take him off their boards.
Three players project for this combination of blocks and threes. Only one of them is also projected for 76 games.
See Matas Buzelis's full player profile, or compare Chicago's rebuilt frontcourt on the 2026–27 fantasy basketball board.
Sources and data notes
- Ball Ranks 2026–27 Model Zero projection, 9-category per-game and totals rankings, season history, and monthly splits: October 7, 2026 snapshot.
- ESPN report on the Bulls trading Nikola Vučević to Boston.
- NBC Sports report on the Bulls acquiring Nic Claxton.
- CBS Chicago report on the Bulls drafting Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain.
- Sports Illustrated projection of the Bulls' starting lineup.