Hornets Rookie Hannes Steinbach Projected To Start Over Moussa Diabaté

Hannes Steinbach was listed with the starters on a projected rotation graphic during Thursday's Kevin O'Connor Show. Moussa Diabaté, who started 47 games at center for the Charlotte Hornets last season, was listed with the bench. The segment ran from 27:34 to 37:44.

Coby White, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, and Naz Reid filled out the rest of the starting five, in that order from point guard to power forward.

Dennis Schröder led the second unit at point guard, with Grayson Allen at the two. Royce O'Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith played forward spots. Diabaté was the backup center.

Kalkbrenner, who started 31 games at center last season, is not included in the graphic. Grant Williams is also absent.

Diabaté played 73 games last season and averaged 7.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 26.0 minutes. He shot 63.1% from the field and 65.9% from the line. His 3.7 offensive rebounds a game ranked fifth in the NBA, and he won the Hustle Award. Charlotte converted his two-way deal into a two-year, $4.6 million contract in 2025.

Diabaté was drafted 43rd overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2022, playing 33 games over two seasons. Kalkbrenner started last season, but Diabaté ended as the starter.

Diabaté believes a player's break timing is beyond their control.

"That's something that Taj (Gibson) kept on telling me: 'Keep on showing up,'" Diabaté said on the BasketBaltes podcast. "There's no such thing as right timing. You don't know exactly when it's going to happen, but if you keep on showing up, one of them days it's going to happen. So it's like, you've got to keep showing up and give everything you have and just leave it to God after that."

Rookie Wire's Mack Baltes reported the comments. Gibson, a 17-year NBA veteran now 41 years old, spent the 2024-25 season in Charlotte.

Reid's last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves produced 13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds a night on 45.6% shooting, with 36.2% from three. Kalkbrenner averaged 7.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks as a rookie and shot 75.3% from the floor.

Steinbach and Reid were the July additions to a room that already had three bigs in it, an NBA executive told Hornets Roundtable.

"Last year we went into the season knowing Moussa (Diabaté) was better than anyone else knew. We hoped Ryan Kalkbrenner would give us something. We hoped Grant Williams would come back and give us a small-ball option at the five. All three happened," the executive said.

"Now, we add Naz Reid and Hannes Steinbach to that mix? That's real depth and they're all different kinds of players. That'll give (head coach) Charles (Lee) a lot to work with this season," the executive continued.

O'Connor described Steinbach on Thursday as "a floor-spacing five who can pass" and grouped him with Reid, Allen, and O'Neale among the additions that deepened the roster.

Charlotte drafted Steinbach 14th overall in June from Washington, where he started all 30 games as a freshman. He averaged 18.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 34.6 minutes, shot 57.7% from the field, and had 22 double-doubles. His 353 rebounds led the Big Ten. He went 18-of-53 from three.

Five Summer League games in Las Vegas yielded three double-doubles. Steinbach scored 15 points and 11 rebounds against Orlando, then 27 points and 15 rebounds on 13-of-22 shooting versus Milwaukee in his first start. He added 22 points and 11 rebounds against Sacramento. He averaged 15.8 points and 3.4 offensive rebounds over the trip and didn’t make a 3-pointer until the fifth game.

Steinbach's stated goal is to do it every night.

"Yeah, I just love playing physical, love to make contact," Steinbach said in comments first reported by Hoops Rumors. "So, I think it's just bringing that to every game, every time I play."

Another focus for the Hornets will be to solve their roster crunch. Charlotte has carried 17 players on standard contracts after the Finney-Smith trade, two over the regular-season limit.