Chicago Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis recently found his way into the starting lineup, and he is starting to find his stride in the NBA. The basketball world had high expectations for Buzelis coming into this season, and as we approach the All-Star break, he is starting to live up to those expectations. Speaking of the All-Star break, Buzelis will be making the trip to San Francisco as he will be participating in the dunk contest.

There will be four players participating in the NBA dunk contest this year as Matas Buzelis will be going up against Mac McClung, Stephon Castle and Andre Jackson Jr. McClung has won the last two dunk contests, but Buzelis isn’t going to San Francisco to lose. He wants to take down the champ.

“I’m not going there to lose,” Buzelis said, according to a post from K.C. Johnson.

Buzelis has had some emphatic dunks this year, but Mac McClung will not be going down without a fight. He doesn’t even play in the NBA, but his hops and his ability to dunk the basketball are unreal. If someone that isn’t in the league gets invited and continues to win the contest, you know they are impressive.

This season got off to a slow start for Buzelis, but he is starting to find a groove with the Bulls. He wasn’t getting a ton of minutes early on and it was obviously hard for him to find a lot of consistency when he wasn’t playing very much. However, that is starting to change.

Buzelis has recently seen a big increase in minutes, and he is taking full advantage of his opportunity. He was typically getting around 10-15 minutes per game, but a couple weeks ago, Buzelis started to see the floor for 20-30 minutes, and that has been going on for the past seven games. In those games, Buzelis is averaging over 14 points per game. He has been in double figures in each of his last six games.

In one recent game, Buzelis had one of the most impressive performances that we have seen all season as he finished 10-10 from the field for 24 points in a win against the Miami Heat. Buzelis did not miss. That is rare.

Bulls fans are very excited about the future with Matas Buzelis, and he has showing why during this recent stretch. With how he’s playing, he should continue to see a lot of playing time, and he will be a key player down the stretch for the Bulls.