Matas Buzelis is headed back to NBA All-Star Weekend.
The Chicago Bulls forward was announced Monday as one of 28 players participating in the Rising Stars mini-tournament Feb. 13 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles (8 p.m., Peacock). This year’s Rising Stars class is headlined by Rookie of the Year front-runners Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.
The Rising Stars rosters comprise standout G League, first-year and second-year players. This is Buzelis’ third time participating after he previously was selected with G League Ignite in 2024 and as a Bulls rookie last year.
But although Buzelis was eager to participate in the Rising Stars, he declined another invitation to compete in the Slam Dunk Contest on Feb. 14.
Buzelis was one of four players who competed in the 2025 dunk contest. It was an unfortunate outing — Buzelis missed every attempt on his opening dunk, finished last in the initial stage and did not advance to showcase his final dunks — a fact Buzelis openly acknowledged.
“We know how that went,” he said with a laugh.
Despite last year’s results, Buzelis said the NBA invited him back to the dunk contest this year, but he declined because of the Bulls’ packed schedule ahead of the All-Star break. They will play nine games in the final 16 days before the break, including a stretch of five games in seven days this week due to a rescheduled game against the Miami Heat.
Buzelis got in only a handful of practices before last year’s dunk contest, which he believes played a part in his performance. This year’s schedule offers even less time to practice — and he is playing a much larger role on the team as a starter who averages 28 minutes.
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While Buzelis wants to redeem himself in a future iteration of the competition, he didn’t think participating this year would be responsible as the Bulls push to improve their playoff positioning.
“I’m trying to listen to my body,” Buzelis said. “This stretch of games coming up is going to be very important for us. Hopefully I get invited again another year because I would love to do it, but this year I’m going to have to decline it.
“I just want to take care of my body. It’s a lot of work to prepare for the dunk contest. It takes a toll on your body. Especially in this stretch of games we have coming, it’s going to be very important for me to be fresh.”
After a tapered start to his rookie season, Buzelis has risen to become one of the most prominent players in the NBA’s sophomore class. He ranks fourth in scoring (14.9 points per game), 10th in rebounding (5.2 per game) and third in blocks (1.4 per game) among 2025 draftees.
The 21 NBA players selected as Rising Stars will be drafted onto three teams Tuesday night (6 p.m., Peacock), with the fourth team consisting of seven G League players. Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady are the honorary coaches with Austin Rivers coaching the G League team.