The Charlotte Hornets are 1-0 to begin the 2026-27 season, with head coach Charles Lee dipping into his rotation Rolodex and deploying a 10-man unit in which every player contributed on both ends of the floor and had a hand in Charlotte's opening-night victory. One notable player left out of that rotation was rookie big man Hannes Steinbach, who received a DNP-CD in the season opener.
Steinbach was Charlotte's lottery pick back in late June and had an excellent showing in the Hornets' final preseason outing, recording a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double in 28 minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies.
However, considering Charlotte's current pecking order at center, Steinbach's less proven two-way skill set, and what the Hornets need from their defensive backline to stay afloat without Coby White and Kon Knueppel, I wasn't particularly surprised to see Steinbach on the outside looking in alongside Tidjane Salaün, at least for now.
Why Steinbach is out of the rotation
One of the more significant things for me to monitor during Charlotte's preseason slate was how Steinbach would be utilized in Lee's system, particularly where the coaching staff envisioned playing him positionally.
Hannes spent the majority of his minutes at the four during his lone season at Washington and was incredibly effective in that role, helping him earn lottery-pick status in last June's draft.
Yet throughout Charlotte's four-game preseason, the coaching staff showed little interest in playing Steinbach at the nominal power forward position, even with Grant Williams out of the lineup, or experimenting with lineups featuring two non-shooting bigs in games that didn't count.
As things stand, there are two main reasons why Steinbach is unlikely to be a regular part of Charlotte's rotation for the moment.
The first is the Hornets' spacing template on offense, which requires their four to provide legitimate floor spacing and shooting gravity. Steinbach hasn't shown himself to be a reliable three-point shooter at this stage of his development, making him better suited to operating out of the dunker spot or weak-side corner when he's not directly involved in the action. And Steinbach can be really productive offensively in that role, as he demonstrated throughout Summer League and the preseason.
The problem is that at center, Steinbach sits behind two proven NBA commodities in Moussa Diabaté and Ryan Kalkbrenner, both of whom played excellent games against Brooklyn.
Diabaté finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, and five steals, wreaking havoc with his activity and hustle all over the court, while Kalkbrenner finished with a team-best plus-minus of +22. That leads into the second reason Steinbach faces an uphill battle for rotation minutes, which is the defensive side of the floor.
A work in progress defensively
With White, Knueppel, and Williams out of the lineup, Charlotte will have to win games primarily on the defensive end of the floor while generating enough offense to get by. Lee and his staff understand that reality.
“A couple of things I loved were number one, our defense,” Lee said postgame. “We set a tone – that’s going to be our identity no matter what’s going on offensively. We want to really commit to that end of the floor. So, to have three 25-or-less quarters were really impressive by our group.”
Having a safe pair of hands on the backline in Diabaté is essential to Charlotte's man-to-man defense, given his ability to switch and excel in multiple defensive coverages. And Kalkbrenner has been a rock-solid presence in drop coverage dating back to his first professional game last season.
The most glaring knock against Steinbach coming out of college was the defensive limitations he put on tape at Washington. He's not a great vertical athlete or rim protector currently and gets caught out of position too often when defending the pick-and-roll at the five.
He showed some improvement in that area during the preseason compared to Summer League, but those shortcomings are still evident.
It's not all bad defensively, though, as Steinbach has great foot speed for his size, does a nice job using his active hands and 7-foot-2 wingspan to contest shots, and showed versatility to switch onto smaller players during preseason action. But overall, he needs more seasoning on that end of the floor before Lee and his staff can trust him over their two more established options at center.
And that's perfectly fine for a 20-year-old rookie who will have plenty of playing time to develop with the Greensboro Swarm. Hannes is also just one injury away from having a significant role in Charlotte's lineup.
So there's no reason for concern over Steinbach's lack of playing time. Lee and his staff are taking a thoughtful, practical approach with their newly acquired big man, making sure he's ready for the challenge when his opportunity comes. And that opportunity could arrive as soon as Charlotte's next game.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter for the latest news and updates on the Charlotte Hornets
Add us as a preferred source on Google