July 20, 2026, 11:30 a.m. PT

When Team Germany takes the floor for the Turkish Airlines Supercup and a World Cup Qualifier game against the Netherlands in late August, former Washington Huskies star forward Hannes Steinbach will be among them.

Ahead of his first training camp with the Charlotte Hornets, after the organization selected him with the No. 14 pick in June’s draft, Steinbach has starred at the Summer League in Las Vegas, and could use the three international games as a tune-up before his regular season debut.

The 6-foot-11 product of Würzburg, who averaged 18.5 points and a nation’s best 11.8 rebounds per game during his one year on Montlake, made headlines ahead of his arrival in Seattle on the international circuit at the FIBA U19 World Cup, where he posted 17.4 points and 13 rebounds per contest.

Steinbach has always taken a lot of pride in his home country, whose ties run deep on Montlake. During his one season with the Huskies, the program retired the numbers of German legends Detlef Schrempf—whose No. 22 he will don for his rookie year with the Hornets—and Christian Welp, UW’s all-time leading scorer.

“Being there for those moments was so cool and really exciting,” Steinbach told NBA.com’s Sam Perley.

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!

“Those guys had a lot of impact on German basketball and setting those first stones for guys to get to the NBA. Just seeing other Germans succeed (at Washington) and knowing that I’ll already have some German support there, that was definitely a big reason why I went there. I talked to Detlef and send him texts sometime. He helped me get settled into Seattle and Washington. He’s been a really good supporter. I’ve watched a little bit of his game footage, too. Christian’s family was really nice. I didn’t really know too much about him, but I played with his son Collin Welp (in Würzburg), so that was a connection that we had.”

Steinbach is one of seven NBA players on Team Germany’s roster, which will also include his fellow Hornets rookie Christian Anderson, Dennis Schröder, Tristan da Silva, Isaiah Hartenstein, Ariel Hukporti, and Jack Kayil.