Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Matas Buzelis talks Rising Stars honor, friendship with Caleb Williams

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote were joined by Bulls second-year forward Matas Buzelis to discuss his Rising Stars honor, the organization’s direction and more.

We are happy to report that Bulls practice has wrapped up. Shootaround is over in Boston. And now joining us on our Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circus Sports app today is the three-time rising star. Modis Buzzellis. Modis, thanks for coming on. No problem. Thank you guys for having me.

All right. First things first. I've gotten a hot news tip, Modis. I hear that you like to have some food after shoot around. What's your go-to to get the hotel spread going? I'm going It depends on what time it is If it's in the morning

I'm going with the eggs scrambled Four eggs with cheese Probably sausage mixed And some pancakes I love pancakes Nice load them up with butter syrup I mean you'd really load those pancakes up I'm not gonna lie

I've never had butter on my pancakes What? I don't know is it good What do you do This is important news here I go I just go with syrup. That's it. Now, how much crap have you gotten

throughout from your family growing up? It's like, come on, young, modest. A little bit of butter and you're like, no thanks? We never had butter for the pancakes in my house when we were younger. You're a healthier household then. That's what I'm hearing here. Modis, you're young and can burn a lot of calories, man.

Like, for those of us who can't, we need you to try to mix it up a little. You know what? That's what I might start doing. I might start doing it from this day moving forward. Modis, I'm very curious because you obviously have been selected for a third straight Rising Stars game. To my knowledge, you're the only player who's ever been selected to play in three straight games because, of course, you played in the G League, in the first time you played, then your rookie season, now in your second season.

Do you know if you're the first guy to play in three straight? I think, no, I think some other guys have done it. I think Scoot Henderson has done it. Okay. there's somebody else I can't recall but it's honestly a blessing and I'm you know super excited do you feel like it's changed the way you look at either All-Star weekend or just like the game itself the way the NBA is always tweaking with the rules and selections and how we come up with the teams who play um I wouldn't say that no I'm just I'm just very excited to be

in LA and participating against you know the best players and you know getting to see all those bad guys who are stars in the league and, you know, learning from them. Well, congratulations for being in that again, because, of course, we all want you to be a star. Along those same lines, have you considered or will you consider doing the slam dunk competition again, maybe sometime down the line? Because I was thinking about you in that game against Toronto, the one that that Mack McClung played in with you, and I'm thinking about McClung because he's a three-time dunk champion. And then you have a sick one-handed jam in that game. And I'm thinking, oh, we got two

dunkers right here. Have you thought about that? And while I'm at it, what did you think about Mack McClawn? Actually, you know, we have two dunk contest champs on our team. And Freddie Simon is also another one. So we had a, nice. We have a couple. We have a couple guys. But yeah, honestly, you know, I'm definitely would want to do it again. I'm just, you know, listening to my body this year. You know, your body is a temple, so you have to take care of it. And, you know, Matt McClung, he's a great guy.

He works extremely hard. He, you know, to be where he is for that long, you know, in the G grinding every day. And the guys don't know how tough it is. So props to him, he's an amazing, I'm going to call him a vet. He's been, you know, doing it for so long. And he's, I give him all the props.

And he's an amazing person. You know, modest, you bring up some, something pretty compelling when you talk about just the effects that that can have on your body. Playing in a Rising Stars game is obviously a little bit different of an activity compared to the dunk contest. What was the lasting effect for you when it came to just having to recover that, you know, being younger, being still new to your process? Like what, how did you physically feel after competing? And what have you heard from other people about how it takes it out of you? Tough, but, you know, I'm not the one to, I'm not one to back down from anything. But,

I try to play every single game in the NBA. And I have done it this year. I did it last year. And I want to play every game and, you know, knock on what I have. And, you know, I'm just listening to my body. Your body is very important. You know, if you're hurt, you can't do anything to help the team win. And I just try to just try to listen to my body.

I know you're listening to your body. I'm more just interested and fascinated with how you're handling. what's happened over the last week surrounding the trade deadline. So many teammates gone, so many new teammates. What has that process been like for you? I mean, Billy Donovan, out of the nine guys you used in the last game, only six of them were your new teammates.

Only three guys from, you know, before a week ago had you played with. Yeah. It's definitely tough. You would think, you know, you can just grab a bunch of new guys and then just start winning and have a spark right away, but that's just not how it works. You know, you have to grind through it. You have to all be on the same page and what we're doing.

And, you know, it's been tough for me. I lost a lot of friends, but it's just the business of basketball. And it is what it is. I just accept it and move forward. And, you know, as soon as the trades happen, I have to move on to the next game. And I was ready to play against Toronto Raptors right away. And you just have to have a short memory.

Yeah, modest, the graphic that I saw on the CHSN broadcast, you've had 34 teammates since being drafted by the Bulls in 2024. What do you think about that? To be honest, like, it might sound harsh, but it is what it is. That's just how it is. And you have to be ready to play every night. And I'm thankful to even share the court with all those teammates. Like I remember playing with Taylor and THT, being from Chicago, Javon, all those guys.

they mean a lot to me. But right now it's a new squad and we have to move and turn the page. Yeah, yeah, it's tough, man. Life is a professional athlete in all of the sports. You're talking about your Chicago teammates, you know, I.O. D'Suma, one of those. I can't help but thinking about the day of the Bears Packers playoff game. You guys have a game that day. You guys come in rocking Bears jerseys.

I know that, hey, we're all upset. The Bears didn't advance. But do you guys get a chance to watch the Super Bowl on the NBA circuit? Like, did you guys come together in any way, shape, or form? Yeah, we actually did. You know, since we got our new guys, we all try to, you know, build some chemistry, watch the game together. We all ordered food, and it was a good time.

I think we jelled well together. And that helped. That definitely helped our team. I think we've seen a pretty cool, like, young sports click coming together, you know, between you, Caleb Williams, Pekro Armstrong, there might be a good vibe going with the young athletes in this town. Yeah, those are my guys. I try to connect with all of them.

I told them we should definitely do a dinner. Me, Caleb, PCA, and Bard. And we're definitely going to do that. But those are all my guys. They're doing amazing. and they're representing Chicago well. Love it. Certainly the future and modest.

I know it's been a rough time for you guys, not just the trade deadline, but the fact that you lost five in a row, eight of your last nine. People in Chicago are starting to use that T word, the tank word, if you will. How do you block out the noise and how do you continue to get better,

even though you've got all these new teammates? And we know that our church, Karnassova, said that you're trying to get out of the middle. Yeah. Yeah, we're definitely trying to do that. And, you know, it's going to be hard at first. You know, we lost our, I don't know how many games in a row, but we have to be better and we're going to have to figure it out sooner or later.

Now, wait, hold on. Where are you guys going for your dinner? You got to let us sit on a little bit of a secret here. I don't know when we're doing it, but as soon as everybody's free, we'll try to work something out. But they're definitely, you know, I ask them about it. They're definitely interested in doing that. But it'll be exciting.

I don't know what food they like or anything, but that's something that we'll have to figure out. Do you have a number one spot? Say it again. I was just asking if you had a number one spot you'd like to go. That's tough. Honestly, I go to Oakville like every day. when I'm after lunch.

Okay, so that's... The one on Green Street. Yeah, in the West Lute. Yeah, that's a great vibe. You would catch me there if it's like two or three in the afternoon, probably. Good to know. We can bug modest at the Oakville. As long as they don't serve butter.

No, I love butter now, just not on my pancakes. Oh, okay. I got you. Please don't put butter on your pancakes on a count of us. Yeah, don't. get to try it. I think you'll be okay. We'll do. Modest, thank you so much. Congratulations again on the Rising Stars game.

Thanks, Modis. Thank you guys again. I appreciate you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Safe Travels to L.A. That's Modis Puzellis, letting us in on a little bit of the where you can find Modis at the Oakville. See, I worry that he shouldn't have to get too much away. Oakville, you guys are going to have to hook him up with a private area now. That's a young man's mistake. right there. You're going to have to screen models. That's tough. That's, that's, no, but seriously, that's tough.

And that idea of that dinner, like, that's paparazzi style here in Chicago. If you saw those four guys walking around, like, the camera phones would be out instantly. For one of them, let alone all of them together. I was so curious if they had a plan as to where they wanted to go. Yeah, I don't think they're going to give that, give that. Well, I'm sure they'll take pictures from wherever they are. They should. They should.

They should. the many hours later. Yeah. That's the trick. You do it after like you've changed scenes. You know? So like if you're there, don't post while you're at the scene. Right.

Just after you change the scene. Right. Then nobody will come and find you. Yeah. Unless they want, hey, maybe they want the attention. They're accessible stars and that's okay. Next thing you know, we're posting pictures from years later. Not me.

Not me. Oh, goodness. No, it's great to have Modis on. I'm glad we got to talk to. him. I feel bad for him. He's about to have some rough sledding, if you will, because they're not winning. He couldn't tell you how many games in a row they had lost. That's a, that's a pretty formidable sign of how bad things have been on the court. Just play ball. Just get out there, get to know your teammates. Get your shots up. Get your shots up. Just be you,

Modis. Well, the other thing, too, is you can just tell how the game is slowing down for him a bit, especially in the downhill aspect of his game. I think that's something that we've seen improve when it comes to modest. Yeah, if he, like I said, if he continues to bulk up, maybe add more syrup to the pancakes, whatever, butter, or have protein pancakes. Creatine pancakes. Creatine pancakes. All of it, then maybe, you know, he gets strong enough because he's just a little bit lacking in that strength area, both offensively and defensively. And that's something he's got to really work on that and tightening his handle, in my opinion. The butter is really the key to the whole thing. I mean, like, I've had pan-y, like, they're not bad without the butter, but it really, it changes

the whole. I don't like tough, dry pancakes. They need to be soft and the butter softens them up. That's, yeah, full flavor too. That bite right in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. That's an excellent assessment. And I prefer my syrup warm also, not just room temperature syrup. I didn't even think about that.

So thanks to modest Buzellis for coming on with us on Rahimi Harris and Grady. I have a question for Ray and our crew. I know that we had to pause our stadium discussion and we didn't get to all of the Cam Buckner comments on the afternoon. show, do we want to get back to that or do we want to stick to our original plan? I think we stick to our original plan. Okay. It's baseball time.

Speaking of the afternoon show, Matt Spiegel let loose some information regarding the Boston Red Sox that not only mentioned one cub, but two. And you might guess who they might be interested in. So let's have a discussion about that and listen to what Speaks had to say next.