The Milwaukee Bucks are among the teams eyeing Washington big man Hannes Steinbach as the 2026 NBA Draft nears, sources tell FortyEightMinutes.
The Bucks own the No. 10 pick via their own selection but now also own the No. 13 pick via their Giannis Antetokounmpo trade with the Heat.
The Bucks acquired center Kel’el Ware in the Giannis deal, though we are hearing that his presence on the roster isn’t expected to dictate how their draft plans go.
Nate Ament and Karim Lopez are other players who have been linked to Milwaukee and as Sam Venecie of The Athletic writes, the Bucks have done a lot of due diligence on the top guards in the draft.
For quite some time, it was rumored that the Bucks were operating as if they were going to have multiple lottery picks and there were even some reports of Milwaukee operating like they will have three first round picks in the 2026 draft.
More on Steinbach
In addition to Milwaukee, Dallas is also said to be interested in Steinbach, as we relayed earlier this week. The Hornets, having the No. 14 and No. 18 selection, have also been linked to the German-native and other bigs in the draft. We heard that Charlotte has interest in Dallas’ Daniel Gafford, so the Mavericks trading for an additional pick in the first round to select Steinbach is possible.
We’ve repeatedly heard throughout the process that Steinbach was a “lock” to go in the lottery. Yet, as mentioned earlier in the week, trades in the late lottery could change his position. Milwaukee’s new No. 13 selection isn’t the only lottery pick that could change hands on draft night.
Steinbach is still expected go in the top half of the first round and could go as high as No. 9. Steinbach is No. 12 on our Final Top 60 Big Board and we see him having the skillset to be in a rotation immediately despite defensive concerns. Our projection runs similar to Brook Lopez, who also had similar issues coming out of college.
Dallas and Golden State are the only two teams who have reported workouts with Steinbach.
More on the NBA Draft
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- The Wizards are reportedly looking to trade for an additional lottery pick. If they succeed, they would be the fourth team in history to have the No. 1 pick and an additional lottery selection in the same draft. Some names we heard for Washington if they succeed: Morez Johnson, Cameron Carr, and Aday Mara.
- The Sixers at No. 22 are seen as Chris Cenac‘s floor.
- The team had him in for a workout and as we previously relayed, one front office member believes Cenac’s arrival (and timeline to develop) could be part of a elongated post-Joel Embiid transition.
- Darius Acuff enters the draft only working out for five teams with one being the Kings. Many expect No. 7 to be his floor on draft night.
