Matas Buzelis is living by a simple philosophy this weekend: Dunking is fun.
The Chicago Bulls forward always has believed this. All of basketball is supposed to be fun but especially the dunks. The nastier the better. On the run in transition. Cutting backdoor behind an unwitting defender. Over a pair of stretched-out hands.
As a rookie, Buzelis is already the Bulls’ best dunker. He’s used to shocking opponents and teammates alike by rattling the rim, taking the chance to fly whenever there’s a spare inch of space around the basket.
But when Buzelis makes his debut Saturday in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during All-Star weekend in San Francisco, the pressure will be a little different. It’s one thing to slam down a tomahawk dunk in the flow of a game. Or to throw down an “East Bay” during warmups.
The dunk contest is another level — an opportunity for Buzelis to distinguish himself as part of an elite class of NBA athletes. The athleticism is higher. The spotlight is brighter. But Buzelis, who also was added to Friday night’s Rising Stars game, isn’t changing his philosophy for All-Star weekend.
Because winning? Well, that’s more fun than anything else.
“I’m not going there to lose,” Buzelis said.
When the NBA’s invitation came, Buzelis didn’t need to think over his answer. But once the excitement died down, he didn’t know where to start.
The All-Star dunk competition requires contestants to prepare four dunks. All four players — the others are San Antonio Spurs rookie guard Stephon Castle, Milwaukee Bucks wing Andre Jackson Jr. and Orlando Magic two-way player and two-time defending dunk champion Mac McClung — will perform two dunks in the first round. The two players who receive the highest scores will advance to the championship round, in which they perform two more dunks
This requires some strategy. The first two dunks need to be strong enough to advance — but it’s risky to throw down a showstopper too early in the competition.
It was hard for Buzelis to know how to build his portfolio. Dunking is a natural extension of his game and, sure, he has displayed plenty of tricky dunks for fun at the end of practices and during optional evening workouts at the Advocate Center.
But constructing a competitive dunk was a completely different challenge.
“I have the skills,” Buzelis told the Tribune. “That’s not the hard part. It’s just about putting something creative together.”
Fortunately, Buzelis had a cheat code in former teammate Zach LaVine.
LaVine is without question one of the best dunkers in NBA history, winning back-to-back titles in 2015-16 with the Minnesota Timberwolves. His duel with Aaron Gordon in 2016 redefined the competition for years to come. And that dunk contest also inspired an 11-year-old Buzelis to stretch his own creativity.
(Buzelis defends LaVine as the rightful winner of the 2016 contest, although he cedes that Gordon put up the best dunk, the famous “Air Chair” that involved tucking the ball under his legs while soaring over the Magic’s 6½-foot mascot, Stuff.)
LaVine retired from dunk competitions years ago — ask him about it now and the 29-year-old will joke about the trials of old age — but he still had a thing or two to show his young teammate. When Buzelis got the invitation, LaVine began compiling clips and concepts for winning dunks.
It wasn’t hard for LaVine to brainstorm ideas for Buzelis. High-flying acrobatics have been Buzelis’ calling card since he first put on a Bulls jersey. His teammates can’t disguise the tinge of envy when they talk about his abilities above the rim, a collective chorus of “Man, I wish I could do that.”
“He’s just gifted,” guard Lonzo Ball said with a laugh. “No other way to put it.”
One morning in late January, LaVine told Buzelis and forward Patrick Williams to meet him at the Advocate Center for a late-night practice session.
There was no pressure. Buzelis put on some music. LaVine took some time to show off, juggling the ball between his hands behind his back before throwing down a thunderous tomahawk, laughing as Buzelis and Williams ran in opposite directions and shouted in stupefied disbelief.
Dunk practices are mostly about strategy. Every action has to be all-out — a full-effort jump, followed by a violent finish at the rim and a jarring return to the hardwood. Buzelis spent plenty of time asking LaVine questions, pulling out his phone so they could review footage and swap notes on their favorite flairs and finishes.
As LaVine began to help him craft a competition centerpiece, Buzelis had one simple request: “I just want to be different.”
Eight days before the dunk contest, Buzelis was nearing crunch time.
The rest of the Bulls had cleared out of the Advocate Center gym after a rare Friday morning practice. But Buzelis remained at center court in his training gear, surrounded by a small fleet of cameras as he worked through a slate of All-Star media spots.
“Hey, man,” Buzelis said with a smile, tugging at his shirt where it had caught on a microphone pack. “We’ve got to hurry up.”
Buzelis is rarely in a rush, but that morning was different. His schedule was booked with back-to-back interviews. And he was equally preoccupied with making it out to the suburbs in time to watch his little brother, Vince, lead Hinsdale Central in a crucial game against Downers Grove North.
But Buzelis was most anxious to get to the most important appointment of the afternoon — a one-on-one training session with Chuck Milan, the NBA’s official dunk coach.
For the last 10 years, Milan has been the brains behind some of the best dunks of All-Star weekend. The CEO and founder of Team Flight Brothers, Milan is an expert in competition dunking who has worked with contest winners such as Donovan Mitchell (2018) and Terrence Ross (2013).
Coaching is optional for the dunk contest. The league makes Milan available to every contestant, but he isn’t required to fly to the various cities unless he’s specifically requested.
For Buzelis, making that request was a given. Milan has worked with nine dunk champions. Buzelis plans to become the 10th.
“It’s hard to see yourself from a different perspective,” Buzelis said. “I just needed that to see what more I can do, where else I can take myself with it.”
There’s no singular archetype for the best NBA dunkers. McClung is a 6-foot-2 point guard known for his explosive acrobatics. Dunk champions have ranged from 6-foot-10 center Dwight Howard to 5-foot-7 guard Spud Webb, representing the whole range of athleticism in the league.
Buzelis reminds Milan of 2022 champion Obi Toppin — bouncy enough to achieve elite lift, lengthy enough to create a broader radius around the rim. Buzelis can start a powerful dunk off one foot and brings a complexity to his ball manipulation in the air.
“He can do a couple things that I don’t think a lot of people can do,” Milan said.
Over the years, the dunk contest has become overrun with props and gimmicks. Contestants have spiced up their entries by dunking in a pair of Timberland boots. With a blindfold on. Over Shaquille O’Neal. Across the hood of a 2011 Kia Optima. After putting on a Superman cape or a Black Panther mask or a fitted cap or a high school jersey or — regrettably — a single bedazzled glove.
This isn’t surprising to Milan. The problem is pretty simple: Athletes are struggling to find new ways to dunk the ball. In the last 10 years, only 44 new dunks have debuted in the All-Star contest. That means about two-thirds of the dunks are recycled from previous contests, old mixtapes or highlights on social media.
The shifting expectations reflect the overall evolution of the game. Michael Jordan won the 1988 dunk contest with windmills and reverses. Nearly three decades later, LaVine had to re-create Jordan’s famous free-throw line dunk three times — adding a lob catch, a miniature windmill and an East Bay (between the legs) — to win the 2016 contest.
It was easier to wow a crowd when it never had seen a 360 windmill before. But now? The demand for ingenuity puts a different kind of pressure on contestants’ shoulders.
“Dunks today are so much harder than they were even 10, 20 years ago,” Milan said. “I’m obviously an avid dunk fan. But if we came out and did the dunks that were done in the ’88 dunk contest, it would be awful. People would be really upset.”
Buzelis wants to take things back to the basics. No gimmicks. He hinted at one prop but otherwise planned to execute all of his dunks without an assistant to lob the ball to him. His portfolio of dunks — two designed by LaVine, one by Milan, one by himself — is intended to showcase pure athleticism with a little creative flair.
His main focus is execution. That was a crucial reason to bring in Milan for a tune-up before the trip to San Francisco. Buzelis aims to land every dunk on his first attempt, which garners a higher score from the judges. But in the weeks leading up to the contest, he was missing dunks in practice, losing his grip midair and fumbling to get the ball over the rim.
Vertical lift and hang time are never an issue for Buzelis — but the midair technique is complicated. He doesn’t palm the ball while dunking, instead grabbing it during his initial approach and using momentum to move it through the air for the rest of his move.
LaVine and Milan showed Buzelis how to smooth out his transfers, moving the ball quickly without throwing off his center of gravity. This requires an understanding of how to manipulate his body while suspended in flight — and the trust to just let go once he’s in the air.
“Don’t overthink it,” Milan preached. “Just be yourself.”
Buzelis doesn’t get nervous.
It might be his greatest asset Saturday night. Not his length or his vertical or his creativity — his fearlessness. He isn’t worried about missing a dunk. He doesn’t respond to high stakes by doubting himself. Pressure is exciting for him, not agitating.
“You can just tell he’s got a certain swag about him,” Milan said. “He’s excited to be there. A lot of people, they get confused and nervous. They don’t get excited. That’s not a problem with him. Not at all.”
Buzelis never was scared of the moment. He just wanted it to get here already. Once his slate of dunks was set, the final week before All-Star weekend was dedicated to fine-tuning his approach.
LaVine remained hands-on in the process even after he was traded to the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 2, swapping clips with Buzelis via text and FaceTiming him between practices to talk through last-minute adjustments.
Now the only thing left for Buzelis is to answer one question: Can he make history?
He’s only the fifth Bulls player to compete in the dunk contest, the first since 2007 — and only one player in franchise history has won it. Nearly four decades later, Jordan’s legacy as back-to-back dunk champion in 1987-88 still looms large over the competition. If Buzelis can win this weekend, he would etch himself alongside the greatest before his rookie season has ended.
Win or lose, Buzelis hopes to make history in a smaller way by debuting a never-before-seen dunk. Milan believes at least one of Buzelis’ four dunks is truly unique, a move that never has been attempted. It’s a testament, Milan said, to Buzelis’ eagerness to push his athleticism to its limits.
What makes this dunk so special? Which elements are the key to its difficulty? Those answers aren’t due until Saturday night. Buzelis just shook his head at any follow-up questions, that same grin creeping back in as he thought about the future.
“I can’t tell you that,” he said. “You’ll just have to watch.”
