Bulls forward Matas Buzelis will make his debut with the Lithuanian national team this summer, according to BasketNews.

Lithuania has a pair of qualifying games for the 2027 FIBA World Cup in early July. The team will face Great Britain on July 2 and Italy on July 5.

While the 21-year-old said he’d like to play for Lithuania during the second qualifying window in August, his availability for those contests is up in the air.

“For now, I’m still not sure whether I will play in the second window,” Buzelis said, per BasketNews. “I like to finish what I start, but the Bulls will make the decision. We’ll see, but as I said, I like to finish what I start.”

Here’s more from around the Central Division:

• Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson was in Venice, Italy this week to watch draft-and-stash prospect Saliou Niang compete in the semifinals of the Lega Basket Serie A playoffs, writes Iacopo De Santis of PianetaBasket.com. Cleveland drafted Niang with the 58th overall pick in the 2025 draft. The 22-year-old forward has spent the 2025/26 season with Virtus Bologna, which is currently facing a 1-2 deficit its playoff series vs. Reyer Venizia. Niang averaged 7.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.9 steals in 21.7 minutes per game across 38 EuroLeague appearances this season.
• Indianapolis native CJ Gunn, who completed his senior season with DePaul in March, spoke to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files about working out for the Pacers on Wednesday and beginning his professional career. The 6’6″ wing spent a few weeks this spring playing for the Calgary Surge in the Canadian Elite Basketball League before taking part in the pre-draft process. Gunn told Agness he’s been leaning on veteran NBA guard Gary Harris, another local product, for advice. “Our families are real close-knit so he’s like my cousin,” said Gunn. “I go over to his house every weekend to work with him. After we get done working out and be able to sit down, have conversations about him or what coaches are looking for this whole process, his mindset when he was in it. And just him being a vet and being able to be in that moment and to pick his mind and to be a sponge. He’s definitely given me a lot of a lot of advice.”
• Connor McCaffery is rejoining the Pacers organization as a player development assistant with the Noblesville Boom, the team’s G League affiliate, Agness reports (via Twitter). A former Iowa Hawkeye, McCaffery spent the 2023/24 campaign in what he described as an “entry-level” job with the Pacers. He has spent the past two seasons in a coaching role at Butler, Agness notes.