Chicago Bulls Forward Wants to Win NBA's Most Improved Player Award

The Chicago Bulls were able to resolve the Josh Giddey restricted free agency situation, signing him to a four-year, $100 million deal. Now, even though Chicago does have a few players on expiring contracts heading into the season, they can mainly pivot their focus to the upcoming season and look to get firmly in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago should be able to contend for a playoff spot if Giddey and Coby White continue to play like they did in the second half of last season, but can't do it alone. Nikola Vucevic might be on the move by the deadline, but he should still be a consistent offensive option every game. The ceiling of this Bulls roster, though, centers around 2024 All-Rookie selection Matas Buzelis.

Buzelis Expresses His Desires For The 2025-26 Season

Matas Buzelis on his offseason improvements:

“For me, it’s been the weight room but also maintaining my speed and agility. So not putting on crazy amounts of weight where I’m not gonna be as mobile as I am.”

“Shooting off the dribble, shooting when they go under the screen,… pic.twitter.com/jeNXoy5H27
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) September 29, 2025

Heading into his second season, after averaging 13.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in his final 27 starts of the season, Buzelis wants to take his game to the next level and become one of the best young wings in the NBA.

Speaking at media day on Monday, Buzelis said his top personal goal for next season is winning the Most Improved Player Award, but made sure to emphasize it's winning over everything for him.

Matas Buzelis wants to win The Most Improved Player of the Year pic.twitter.com/eVe3xjkQB7
— Zachary Draves (@DravesZachary) September 29, 2025

Four of the last six winners of the Most Improved Player Award did so on a different team than the one that drafted them. Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey and Memphis' Ja Morant are the only two in that span to win it on the team that drafted them, in large part due to an increase in opportunity and need for production.

Looking at those last six winners, they, on average, increased their points per game total by 7.18. The most dramatic increase was by Lauri Markkanen, jumping 10.8 points per game, and the smallest jump was by Julius Randle, jumping 4.6 points per game.

Over his last 15 games, Matas Buzelis was highly involved in CHI's offensive outcomes (24.4% of plays) and he played winning ball...

Tantalizing 3P accuracy, 6'10 in shoes, legit ball-handling + down hill scoring flashes, obvious competitive spirit, only 20yo. Hyped for year 2! pic.twitter.com/VOlIfES3Z0
— NBA University (@NBA_University) September 27, 2025

Therefore, putting Buzelis at the average, he would need to jump to around 15.5 points per game next season, which seems very doable given Zach LaVine's absence from the team to start the season. Buzelis played just two games at the NBA 2K26 Summer League, averaging 22.5 points per game and drawing significant defensive attention.

If Giddey is able to set up Buzelis for easy looks and Vucevic and White can draw away defensive attention, it's very possible to see a world where Buzelis is firmly in the race for the Most Improved Player next season.

Buzelis Expresses His Desires For The 2025-26 Season

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