{"id":205216,"date":"2026-07-17T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=205216"},"modified":"2026-07-16T22:02:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T02:02:39","slug":"summer-league-hornets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/07\/17\/summer-league-hornets\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NBA Summer League: 1 Question For Each Hornets Rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets sent both their rookies from the 2026 NBA Draft<\/a>\u00a0to play in the Las Vegas Summer League, which has provided impressive performances from its participants. The two rookies Charlotte sent to join their Summer League team are the 14th overall pick, Hannes Steinbach<\/a>, and the 18th overall pick, Christian Anderson<\/a>. Both rookies are impressive prospects who can bring much-needed talent and depth in both the frontcourt and the backcourt, respectively. Each player has tremendous upside and valuable skill sets, but they also bring specific questions that surround their overall game. Let’s explore one question for each Charlotte Hornets rookie as they continue to play in Summer League.<\/p>\n

2026 NBA Summer League: 1 Question For Each Hornets Rookie<\/h2>\n

Hannes Steinbach<\/h3>\n

Question: Will Steinbach’s Interior Scoring And Rebounding Hold Up Against Better Competition?<\/h4>\n

The Hornets used the 14th overall pick to get one of the best big man prospects in Steinbach. At six-foot-ten, Steinbach is easily one of the most fluid and skilled bigs in the entire draft, blending talent and size to be an impactful player. He stands out as an excellent prospect on the offensive end, having demonstrated strong interior scoring and amazing offensive rebounding. In terms of his scoring, Steinbach can operate in a variety of contexts, such as working in the post or rolling to the basket. He has shown great footwork and touch around the rim, making him a major scoring threat in the paint.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Steinbach can create second-chance opportunities for himself or teammates due to his great offensive rebounding. Elsewhere on offense, Steinbach has shown potential operating out on the perimeter as a shooter. Specifically, Steinbach has a good shooting form that suggests the potential to space the floor in the future.<\/p>\n

As for his defense, Steinbach uses his size and length well to be disruptive in the passing lanes. Speaking of length, Steinbach is also an excellent rebounder on the defensive end as well. His combination of size, strength, and wingspan helps him box out opposing players and gobble up boards. Besides that, Steinbach has solid enough lateral quickness, which allows him to occasionally defend in space.<\/p>\n

Steinbach is truly a talented prospect who brings elite upside in the areas he excels at. He does have his warts on the defensive end, but one of the bigger questions for him is whether his elite skills as an interior scorer and rebounder will hold up against better competition at Summer League. With better and stronger athletes participating in Las Vegas, the concern for Steinbach is whether his skills would show some level of fall-off. However, in the games he played, Steinbach has continued to show his excellence in both his scoring and rebounding. While the sample size is small, Steinbach performing well in Summer League should have Hornets fans excited.<\/p>\n

Christian Anderson<\/h3>\n

Question: Will Anderson’s Size And Strength Be An Issue?<\/h4>\n

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Anderson, the other prospect that the Hornets picked up in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, has big shoes to fill. With LaMelo Ball<\/a> sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade, Anderson will have to show his talents as one of the better guard prospects in a class full of great guards. During his time at Texas Tech, Anderson has proven himself to be an elite shooter and playmaker.<\/p>\n

He can make shots from anywhere on the court and is especially talented as a three-point shooter. In terms of his playmaking, Anderson possesses excellent court vision and passing ability. He is great at utilizing the pick-and-roll to create advantages for himself or his teammates. Not only that, but he leverages his gravity as a shooter to generate great looks for his team.<\/p>\n

Anderson is certainly a talented player who can be an impactful player for Charlotte, especially with Ball gone. However, the biggest question for Anderson as a player is whether or not his size and strength are going to be an issue for him. One of the biggest negatives attributed to him as a prospect is his poor defensive ability, which is exemplified by his size and strength. He is a smaller guard at just six-foot-one barefoot, and he lacks strength.<\/p>\n

That can become a major issue for Anderson on both ends of the floor, and Summer League serves as a good first look at how he responds to NBA-level competition. Based on the games he participated in, Anderson has struggled against physicality, which has caused him significant issues on both ends. While Anderson will continue to develop and grow, this will be something to keep an eye on through the remainder of Summer League and into the regular season.<\/p>\n

Featured Image: Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Charlotte Hornets sent both their rookies from the 2026 NBA Draft\u00a0to play in the Las Vegas Summer League, which has provided impressive performances from its participants. The two rookies Charlotte sent to join their Summer League team are the 14th overall pick, Hannes Steinbach, and the 18th overall pick, Christian Anderson. Both rookies are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5121,"featured_media":205234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,7,62,556],"tags":[49942,50516,50396],"class_list":["post-205216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-hornets","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-2026-nba-draft","tag-christian-anderson","tag-hannes-steinbach"],"modified_by":"Benjamin Yu, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205216"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205288,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205216\/revisions\/205288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}