Matas Buzelis Signs G League Ignite Contract; Possible No. 1 2024 NBA Draft Pick

Matas Buzelis, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, is going to play with the G League Ignite next season.

Excel Sports Management, Buzelis' agency, told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski their client has officially signed with the G League developmental team.

It was already known that Buzelis was going to skip college and go to the G League. Wojnarowski reported in June 2022 the 18-year-old committed to play the 2023-24 season in the NBA's pathway program.

The 6'9" forward is a 5-star recruit and No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He had scholarship offers from several top college programs, including Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, before he opted to join the G League.

Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports' director of scouting, wrote no other 2023 recruit can match Buzelis' "combination of size and playmaking ability" as long as he can improve his overall consistency on both ends of the court.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman ranked Buzelis as the No. 5 player in the 2024 draft class in his first rankings released on March 29.

ESPN's Jonathan Givony projected the Illinois resident would be the top player selected in next year's draft in an early top-10 mock that dropped Feb. 22.

Since the G League Ignite was created in April 2020, six players from the squad have been drafted into the NBA. Jalen Green is the highest-drafted player in the group when he was selected No. 2 overall by the Houston Rockets in 2021.

Jonathan Kuminga (No. 7 to the Golden State Warriors in 2021) and Dyson Daniels (No. 8 to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022) are the other G League Ignite alums who have been lottery picks. Scoot Henderson will likely join that group this year.