By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
An altered approach by Matas Buzelis on the way to the senior national team of Lithuania and EuroBasket 2025.
“I will definitely play for the Lithuanian national team, but I don’t know when,” he answered a question by Lithuanian outlet DELFI during a postgame media session following a winning effort against the Philadelphia 76ers in Wells Fargo Center to wrap up the 2024-25 NBA Regular Season on NBA Sundays.
“I’m not sure that I will come this summer. We have problems with the coaches,” he referred to controversial comments by an assistant coach of the senior national team, Tomas Pacesas, stirring the pot for NBA players being among options for selector Rimas Kurtinaitis, “I have to talk to Jonas [Valanciunas], Domantas [Sabonis] and see what they will do.”
Among the Lithuanian imports of the Sacramento Kings, Domantas Sabonis is expected to sit out this summer’s international tournament for personal reasons, but Jonas Valanciunas is expected to return to the national team of his country and make a sixth EuroBasket appearance.
Lithuania will compete in Group B of the preliminary stage, facing Great Britain, Montenegro, Germany, Finland, and Sweden between August 27 and September 3 in Tampere. The top four countries will advance to the knockout stage and punch in a ticket to Riga for single-elimination games starting from September 6.
For now, Buzelis is focused on the Chicago Bulls entering the 2025 SoFi Play-In Tournament and taking on the Miami Heat in United Center on Wednesday. A win would create an opportunity to place eighth on the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and face the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the Playoffs presented by Google, but a loss would mark elimination.
Through the 2024-25 Regular Season, his first in the league based in North America, he averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.4 steals per contest over 80 appearances, including 31 starts.