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When we last saw the local NBA team doing something meaningful, they were getting bullied, browbeaten and blown out by 31 points against Orlando in the NBA play-in tournament.
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Two months after that April embarrassment, the Charlotte Hornets took a positive step to rectify their obvious lack of physicality. With the 14th pick in the NBA Draft Tuesday night, they selected 6-foot-10 bruiser Hannes Steinbach.
Originally from Germany, Steinbach played a single season at Washington before declaring for the NBA Draft. Not many college freshmen lead Division I in rebounding, but he did, grabbing 11.8 rebounds per game.
“Rebounding is my best quality,” Steinbach said after the draft in a media conference call.
Then, with the 18th overall pick, the Hornets went in the other direction. This time they chose 6-1 Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson Jr., whose best quality is… well, let him tell you.
“They’re getting the best shooter in the draft,” Anderson proclaimed of the Hornets.
Anderson brims with confidence, and good shooters usually do. He also said: “I think I’m gifted offensively…. I pride myself on being plug and play.”
On this Hornets team, which crept close to the playoffs last season but still didn’t make it for the 10th year in a row, these two first-round picks aren’t going to start right away unless someone gets hurt.
Starting immediately in the NBA happens to rookies who are either drafted in the top five or join organizations in full-rebuild mode. The Hornets (44-38 last season) don’t fall into either one of those buckets right now.
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But it’s easy to see a path for both to make meaningful contributions immediately. Steinbach, in particular, will help the Hornets in the bullying department. He’s close to 250 pounds, his dad played alongside Dirk Nowitzki at one point in Germany and everyone kept saying Tuesday night that his hands are huge.
Said Jeff Peterson of Steinbach at about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, after the Hornets were done for the night: “He’s a guy who’s the best rebounder in the draft… Very skilled. Very high IQ player. He fits us from a DNA standpoint.”
As for Anderson, do you remember when Texas Tech played Duke just before Christmas last season? The Blue Devils were ahead by 17 points with 17 minutes to go in the second half. But they couldn’t stop Anderson, who ended up leading a massive comeback and setting Texas Tech up for an 82-81 win.
So Anderson is an offensive threat, and he’ll help a second unit that the Hornets hope will still be anchored by Coby White (a priority in free agency for Charlotte, but also a player who could get very expensive to retain). If White leaves, you could see Anderson assuming even a bigger role scoring off the bench.
But scoring was one thing the Hornets did well almost all of last season. It was their lack of enforcers, rebounders and down-and-dirty players that killed them at the end. I still remember Hornets coach Charles Lee saying the day after that thumping by Orlando ended the season of LaMelo Ball: “I think that the next step for him is again being able to handle physicality. I think that’s just a global thing for our team.”
Yes, it’s a global thing for the Hornets, and Peterson said Tuesday night that the Hornets’ hard work in the weight room has been very promising. Even if the Hornets get some internal improvement there, however, they need some external improvement too. They still will need to sign another big man in free agency. But Steinbach is going to help.
This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline “Charlotte Hornets make a strong move with first-round pick in 2026 NBA Draft.”
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