The Chicago Bulls’ rising star Matas Buzelis recently sat down with Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter to record an episode of the ‘Cousins’ podcast, where the young player recalled the time he trash-talked Luka Doncic last season.
Despite conceding 51 points in that game and saying that he regretted trash-talking the Lakers’ superstar, Buzelis now backtracked on his words and claimed that he would go at Doncic with the same intensity in his trash-talk the next time he sees him.
“This is actually a great story. I’m not going to lie. You guys are going to like this one… I mean, we’re like in Chicago, that’s like nothing. It’s like that’s all day. You know, you guys talk s–t, but that’s just, you know, how I was raised to play basketball.”
“And he wasn’t really on anything that game at first, and it was… I don’t really want to get into detail because some really nasty things were said, but he just started baking me, bro, like bad. Like 12 in a row, like bad,” Buzelis recalled.
“I’m like, I don’t, I was like, I don’t care. Keep doing that. I don’t care what you’re doing. Keep scoring. Like, we’ll see if you can keep scoring. And at half, I have 20. So he has 22 at half. So I’m like, I’m chilling… So I end (the game) with like 23. He ends with like 50.”
“Bro, he hit this one shot, bro. And I’m not even trying to, like, I’m not even trying to glaze or anything, but he shot it. He was isoing, and he does that step back. Shot it. I feel like in midair he points directly down at me, and I’m in the corner, and he turns around mid-shot, and it just straight back rim. I was like, ‘Oh God, that’s not good.'”
“But they beat us by like 20. But in the media, I was saying I’m probably not going to trash talk him again, but I really don’t care. Like, I’m going to do it again… It was tough. Like, whenever you talk to him, like, he starts really turning it up for real,” Buzelis further added.
“So I wasn’t going to do it again, but I’m definitely going to do it again. I was giving the political answer, but I don’t really care. I really need my get back. So, I’ll see him this year.”
“But he was also in the press conference. He was in the press conference, and he was like, ‘Yeah. Someone started talking to me. That’s why, like, I went off… he looked at the stat sheet like modest, like he didn’t know who I was… I was like, ‘All right, bro.'”
“Yeah. I have mad respect for him. Like, he’s a good player, but on the court, I don’t really care who I’m playing against,” Buzelis concluded.
The Lakers beat the Bulls 142-130 in March this year. Doncic ended that game with 51 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, three steals, and one block. He shot 17-31 from the field (54.8 FG%) and 9-14 from the three-point line (64.3 3P%).
Doncic also poked fun at Buzelis in the press conference, acting like he didn’t know who he was. And the Slovenian superstar got the last laugh.
Meanwhile, Buzelis ended the game with 22 points, six rebounds, and two steals while shooting 7-19 from the field (36.8 FG%) and 4-11 from the three-point line (36.4 3P%).
Despite the thrashing from Doncic the first time, the competitor in Buzelis compels him to try to get his revenge on him. As long as it doesn’t result in dirty play on the court, I fully encourage that kind of competition.
Doncic has a 3-2 edge over Buzelis in their career head-to-head matchups. Luka Doncic averages 36.6 points, 9.6 assists, and 8.4 rebounds while shooting 50.4% from the field and 52.5% from the three-point line in those games.
Whereas Matas Buzelis averages 17.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while going 46.9% from the field and 44.4% from the three-point line.
Per the 2026-27 schedule, the two sides are set to face off twice, but both fixtures will be in 2027 (January 3 and February 17), so we’ll have to wait and see whether Buzelis brings the same intensity he did and how Doncic responds.
