When the Chicago Bulls switched gears ahead of the 2017 NBA season, they sent star swingman Jimmy Butler packing to the Minnesota Timberwolves. One of the assets that the Bulls received in return was the draft rights to the seventh-overall pick that year.
Along with that, Chicago gained a pair of guards in Zach Lavine and Kris Dunn. LaVine was traded midway this season to the Sacramento Kings and Dunn has been long gone.
So has that No.7 selection from the 2017 NBA Draft. Lauri Markkanen, a 7-footer with tremendous versatility, played for the Bulls until the 2020-21 season. In his four seasons, the Finland native impressed the front office, locker room, and fans across the league.
Yet, in another move centered around the notion of a rebuild, Markkanen was sent off to the Cleveland Cavaliers five summers after he arrived in Chicago. The Bulls have a player with a similar skill set and luster this season.
Why the Bulls Need to Treat Buzelis Better than Markkanen
Three years after Markkanen left Chicago, he has since switched teams again. The veteran big man has been a coveted player since joining the Utah Jazz.
The Bulls viewed him as expendable and moved on from him before they could reap the benefits of him alongside a deep postseason run. Chicago has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs in over a decade.
Markkanen quickly exploded for the Bulls in his first season. On the opening night of the 2017-18 campaign, the rookie forward scored 35 points and collected 17 rebounds in a one-point loss against the Charlotte Hornets. This year, he scored the same number of points in the Jazz's first game of the season.
Look closely at Buzelis recently, and you can see the flashes. He recorded a 12-point and 12-rebound game against the Portland Trailblazers.
In the blowout loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Chicago native scored 19 points along with five boards and five assists. He displayed good defense, as well, by tallying a pair of steals and rejecting a shot. At the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend, the former G-leaguer was even a participant in the Slam Dunk Contest.
Buzelis has shown a game resembling Markkanen's. In April, the rookie has averaged nearly 15 points a game, scoring in double figures in five of those seven games. That helped Chicago close out the regular season 6-1 in those contests heading into Wednesday night's play-in game.
"The one thing about him [Buzelis], when he is on the ball and guys do drive on him, he's gotten much better at using his length and not fouling — really rim-protecting, blocking shots."Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls head coach
The Bulls' front office should allow Buzelis to develop. He has benefited from playing alongside another international player in Nikola Vucevic. Josh Giddey and Coby White have also been a positive influence on the rookie's game. The team should not move on from Buzelis after a few seasons as they did Markkanen.
Chicago needs to be thinking about how Buzelis fits the team long-term, along with Giddey and White. Hopefully, the Lithuanian-American rookie is here to stay and is not just a temporary body until the next time Chicago decides to hit the reset button.