Hannes Steinbach is wasting no time making his case in Charlotte.
The former Washington forward, taken with the 14th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Hornets, has been one of the standouts in Summer League and backed it up again Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. Steinbach went for 27 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, another loud performance in a run that’s starting to look a lot like validation.
Through four Summer League games, Steinbach has averaged 14.3 points in 23.3 minutes per game while shooting 57.9% from the floor. He’s also putting up 8.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists a night. The one thing that hasn’t come around yet is the three-ball - he still hasn’t hit a 3-pointer in Summer League - but the rest of his game has been more than enough to turn heads.
That production shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched him at Washington.
Danny Sprinkle recruited Steinbach out of Wurzburg, Germany, and the 6-foot-11 forward made an immediate impact in Montlake. In one season with the Huskies, Steinbach averaged 18.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals across 30 games, all starts, while shooting 57.7% from the field.
Washington, though, never turned that individual success into enough wins. The Huskies finished 16-17 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season.
Even so, Steinbach’s run in Seattle appears to have opened another door for the program. He was the first of two international commitments for Washington last season, followed by Serbian forward Nikola Dzepina, who joined the team in the winter.
Now the Huskies are trying to replace Steinbach’s offense with a mix of international additions and other new pieces, along with injured returners. Steinbach, meanwhile, is trying to turn a strong Summer League into a real role with the Hornets.
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