FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2026
Preseason basketball is supposed to be harmless — warm-ups with a box score. Then Matas Buzelis went to block a shot midway through the first quarter at the United Center and everything in the building tensed up. The second-year Bulls forward came down wrong on his leg, disappeared to the locker room, came back briefly, and then limped out again in the second quarter. Ruled out: right ankle injury. In October, that's the scariest sentence in the league.
The good news: Buzelis says he's fine. "It's not bad. It's just being smart in the preseason. Just a little sore. Nothing crazy," he told reporters after the game. "I tried to play. I hate missing games. I think I will be ready for Sunday." He finished with 6 points and a block in the 104-100 loss — and if his timeline holds, nobody in Chicago will think about this ankle by the time the real games start.
Still, it was the kind of night that reminds you preseason isn't free. Before tipoff, Memphis announced center Isaiah Stewart will miss two weeks with a left ankle sprain suffered in Monday's exhibition against the Hawks — the same injury story, different team. Our NBA injury roundup has the full October casualty list, and it's already longer than anyone wants.
The rookies steal the show
Once Buzelis left, the game became a showcase for the kids — and Memphis's top pick won the night. Cam Boozer, the Duke product the Grizzlies took near the top of the draft, put up 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in just 12 first-half minutes, then sat the entire second half. Head-to-head in the first half, he clearly got the better of Chicago rookie Caleb Wilson. Wilson did finish with 21 points in 31 minutes — but most of that came in the second half, against lineups that looked nothing like an NBA rotation. First-half Boozer was the better player, and it wasn't particularly close.
The Grizzlies' young pipeline keeps producing. GG Jackson scored 14 off the bench, his third straight preseason game in double figures — quietly one of the steadiest preseason performers in the league. Zach Edey is still working his way back from multiple ankle surgeries, which makes Boozer's early pop even more important for Memphis's frontcourt math. Chicago got a cameo from Quinten Post (4 points and a steal) and 5 points and 3 rebounds from rookie Noa Essengue. Nobody's reading too much into preseason rotations, but if you're a Grizzlies fan, the direction of travel is easy to like.
As for the game itself: Memphis led 30-27 after one, stretched it to 60-50 at the half, and never really let Chicago get close. The Bulls took the third quarter 32-25 and made it interesting late — 19-18 in the fourth — but the Grizzlies closed out the 104-100 win without drama. Preseason drama, anyway. The real drama was Buzelis's ankle, and that appears to be a false alarm.
Macao belongs to Houston
About 7,500 miles away, the Rockets were putting on the kind of show you fly to China to watch. Houston dismantled the Mavericks 135-117 in Macao in the opener of the two-game China series, and the storylines stacked up fast.
The biggest one: Fred VanVleet excelled in his injury return, running the offense like he'd never left. That's the piece Houston needs most — VanVleet is the steady hand on a team full of young explosion, and a healthy preseason run from him changes the ceiling of this whole season.
Alperen Sengun did what he does: 16 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, +22 in 22 minutes. Triple-double in a preseason cameo. That's not a player rounding into form; that's a player who arrived. Tari Eason brought the energy — 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals. Reed Sheppard knocked down 4-of-7 from three for 16 points, which is exactly the shooting Houston drafted him for. Kevin Durant chipped in 15 points and 2 assists without breaking a sweat, Jabari Smith Jr. added 12 and 4, and Bruce Thornton dropped 13 points on 3-of-3 from deep in just 9 minutes. When your end-of-bench guard is going 3-for-3 in nine minutes, you're having a night.
Dallas had one bright spot: Cooper Flagg led the Mavericks with 19 points and 6 rebounds. The top pick looked every bit the part, even in a 18-point loss. For a young star, preseason blowouts are where you learn what doesn't work — Flagg is getting a crash course, and the Mavericks would rather he get it now than in December. The rematch goes Sunday at 5 AM CT on Space City Home Network and NBA TV — the only NBA game that starts before most of the country is awake, and the only one worth setting an alarm for. Both teams open the regular season Oct. 21.
What comes next
Chicago heads on the road — at Denver, at Milwaukee — then comes home to host Minnesota before the regular season opens Oct. 21 at Toronto. If Buzelis is right about Sunday, the Bulls can exhale and get back to the actual business of figuring out their rotation. Memphis hosts Charlotte next Friday, then opens against Utah on Oct. 21, with Stewart's two-week absence forcing some early-season lineup creativity. The NBA midday update has the latest on the league's other injury situations, and the Michael Malone's UNC debut gave college hoops its own Friday storyline. Preseason is almost over — the real thing is 12 days away.
Buzelis says he'll be ready Sunday, and I believe him — but the Bulls are doing the right thing by making him say it from the training room. Second-year leap candidates are the most fragile asset in the league; a sore ankle in October is nothing, a rushed ankle in October is how seasons die. And while everyone's watching Flagg's box scores in Macao, the more important rookie data point from Friday night is Boozer in 12 minutes. The Grizzlies just keep drafting dudes.
Final at the United Center — quarters 30-27, 30-23, 25-32, 19-18. Memphis controlled most of the night.
