Projected No. 1 2024 NBA Draft pick Matas Buzelis enjoying year with Sunrise basketball
The potential No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft is playing his final high school season in the Wichita area this spring.
Matas Buzelis, a 6-foot-10 do-everything standout, is the latest star player at Sunrise Christian Academy, the national prep powerhouse that plays its games in a tiny gym in Bel Aire.
He is a consensus five-star recruit and considered one of the top prospects in the class of 2023, while ESPN’s Jonathan Givony recently projected Buzelis, who will play for G League Ignite next season, as the top prospect in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Wichita fans interested in watching Buzelis play before he reaches the NBA can catch him and Sunrise’s nationally-ranked elite team play TACA Academy at 6:30 p.m. Thursday or OKC Prep at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Sunrise’s main gymnasium. Following Thursday’s game, Buzelis will be presented with his McDonald’s All-American jersey.
“Matas is a 6-foot-10 Swiss army knife,” Sunrise coach Luke Barnwell said. “He truly is a guard with the way he handles the ball and the way he moves and shoots it and scores it. We haven’t had a guy like him at his size before. His athleticism is so fluid and effortless. He’s ultra-talented, but he’s also very unselfish. He passes it extremely well and his ceiling is just crazy high because of how fluid of an athlete he is with his skill set.”
Buzelis grew up in Hinsdale, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, as the son of Lithuanian parents who both played professionally in their home country before immigrating to the United States. He attended Brewster Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire, last season and was named the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year.
He could have done a two-year stint with the NBA G League Ignite organization but chose to spend a year at Sunrise because he believed Barnwell could help develop his game. Buzelis is averaging 15.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.7 blocks for Sunrise, which is 18-6 this season and listed at No. 11 in the national rankings.
Buzelis’ game has fit seamlessly alongside other top-rated recruits at Sunrise, like Miro Little (Arkansas), Layden Blocker (Baylor) and Scotty Middleton (Ohio State).
“I liked that coach Luke pushes me,” Buzelis said. “If a coach isn’t yelling at you, then he doesn’t care about you. He always gets on me, even about the little things. I like that because he’s making me a better player. I believe in coach Luke and what he does.”
Buzelis recently played in the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp during NBA All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City and improved his stock even more against some of the best high school competition. He was named the camp’s MVP, which was mentioned by Givony in slotting him No. 1 in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The biggest focus for Buzelis in his time in Bel Aire has been to improve his strength. He is still extremely slender for his 6-foot-10 frame but feels like he has improved in that regard. Buzelis said he has always played the game like a guard. As he continued to grow, the guard skills never left.
“I can shoot it, I can dribble it, I can pass it, I can pretty much do it all,” Buzelis said. “I can play whatever somebody needs me to play. If I have to play shooting guard in the G League, I can play shooting guard. If I have to play power forward, then I can play power forward.”
Buzelis seems destined for stardom, but before he can dream about what he might accomplish some day in the NBA, he wants to leave his mark at Sunrise.
The program has come close to winning a national championship in the last two seasons, but Buzelis said he is motivated to bring home the first national title to Bel Aire.
“My main goal this year is to win a national championship,” Buzelis said. “I obviously want to get better at the same time and improve all of my skills, but I think this team has the chance to be special. We have so many guys, so many weapons. I think we can get it done this year.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
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