Key Highlights
- This year’s Rising Stars class is headlined by fellow young players such as Rookie of the Year front-runners Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Rising Stars team is comprised of standout G League, first-year and second-year players.
- This is technically Buzelis’ third time participating in the challenge after he was previously selected as an NBA rookie in 2025 and a pre-professional player with G League Ignite in 2024. But although Buzelis was eager to participate in the Rising Stars challenge, he declined another invitation — to compete in the dunk contest. Buzelis competed as one of four players 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 that Buzelis openly acknowledged.“We know how that went,” Buzelis said with a laugh. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDespite last year’s results, Buzelis said the NBA invited him back to the dunk contest this year, but he ultimately declined to participate due to Chicago’s packed schedule ahead of the All-Star break.
- The Bulls will play nine games in the final 16 days before the All-Star break, including a stretch of five games in seven days this weekend due to a rescheduled game against Miami. Buzelis only logged a handful of practices before last year’s dunk contest, which he believes played a crucial part in his overall performance.
- This year’s schedule offers even less time to practice — and the forward is playing a much larger role on the Bulls roster as a starter who averages 28 minutes per game.
