The Washington Huskies men's basketball team found itself down to six players after nine players either ran out of eligibility, transferred or declared for the NBA Draft.

The Huskies saw two players enter the draft from last year's squad. One, which came as somewhat of a surprise, was sophomore forward Bryson Tucker.

The other player to declare for the draft came as hardly a surprise, at all.

Freshman forward Hannes Steinbach entered the draft after being touted as a fringe-lottery pick for most of last season by various analysts. He led Washington in points and rebounds in his only year of college ball.

ESPN's Jeremy Woo recently mocked Steinbach to be selected 16th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies in the draft. 

To further illustrate the perception of Steinbach as a potential lottery pick, he was recently announced as one of 73 players invited to the 2026 AWS NBA Draft combine, which is set to take place from May 10-17 at Wintrust Arena and the Mariott Marquis, both in Chicago.

Steinbach is the only Huskies player to be invited to the combine.

Steinbach was recruited by Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle and the rest of the recruiting staff out of Wurzburg, Germany.

The 6-foot-11, 230-240-pound forward made an immediate impression among the general college landscape. He averaged 18.5 points on 57.7% shooting from the floor (34% from 3-point range) across 30 games (all starts). He also averaged 11.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals. He finished first in the nation in rebounds per game.

Steinbach finished out his freshman year with 22 double-doubles, which was second in program history for the most in a single season. His amount of double-doubles were also tied for first in the nation with Duke forward and fellow hopeful draftee Cameron Boozer and senior Kent State forward Delrecco Gillespie.

There's still a question over how Steinbach will factor into the NBA. There's still a debate where he is a true "five" or starting center or a floor-spacing "four" or power forward and if he can develop his shot from beyond the arc.

Where Steinbach's skills are for sure is his sure-handedness in the post, making him a prime beneficiary of pick-and-rolls and will make him a consistent rebounding threat.

Steinbach's skillset will make him a hard player for the Huskies to replace but he will likely be a big boost to the roster of whichever NBA team selects him.

The 2026 NBA Draft takes place from June 23-24 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, N.Y.

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