The Bulls have exercised their third-year rookie scale team option on forward Matas Buzelis, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac.
The move guarantees Buzelis’ salary for the 2026/27 season. Last year’s 11th overall pick will earn $5.46MM in his second NBA season in ’25/26 and is now locked into a $5.72MM salary for ’26/27. Chicago will have until November 2, 2026 to decide whether or not to pick up his fourth-year option for ’27/28, worth $7.58MM.
Buzelis, who will turn 21 later this month, got off to a slow start as a rookie, scoring double-digit points just four times in his first 45 games and averaging 5.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game with a 38.6% field goal percentage during that stretch.
However, he had a strong finish to the year, putting up 13.3 PPG and 4.5 RPG with a .494/.373/.817 shooting line over the course of his final 35 games. That second-half production propelled Buzelis to a spot on the All-Rookie second team.
Buzelis projects to be a significant part of the Bulls’ future, so this decision comes as no surprise, and it seems pretty safe to assume his fourth-year option will be exercised a year from now too. In that scenario, the 6’10” forward would become eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2027 offseason and would reach restricted free agency in 2028 if he doesn’t sign a new contract before then.
Teams have until October 31 to make their decisions on rookie scale team options for the 2026/27 season. Buzelis is the fourth player to have his option picked up.