Mock Draft (Tuesday): Rebounding and Physicality

The Hornets add some fun, productive players that fit what Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson want to accomplish.

Welcome back to SportCLT’s home for draft day degenerates- Mock Draft Monday (or Tuesday, in today’s case.

As is now the precedent, a 30-pick mock draft has been completed to ensure that the selections on our board are as fair and reasonable as possible. The Hornets are now under our control - sorry, Jeff.

As of March 16th, the Charlotte Hornets own the 13th overall pick (their own) and the 20th overall pick (least favorable of ORL/PHX, via Nurkic trade).

Since the previous Mock Draft Monday installment, the Hornets’ lone 2026 second-round pick has been sent to Miami for the Terry Rozier situation.

With the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select:

Hannes Steinbach - Forward - Washington

Hannes Steinbach will not be taking the court in the upcoming NCAA tournament following what could best be summed up as a disappointing season for the Huskies. Washington really struggled to form any sort of solid offense outside of what Steinbach provides, which is a blend of interior creation both as a scorer and playmaker, and what could be the best rebounding talent in the 2026 class.

Steinbach averaged 18.5 points per game making 61.8% of his two-point attempts. He shot 10.3 shots per night from inside the arc, and secured 4.2 offensive rebounds per contest.

The three-point shot, though not perfect, shows promise as he shot 34% from beyond the arc on nearly two attempts per game.

It’s easy to lump the 6-foot-10 center who lacks game changing athleticism into the defensive liability category, but Steinach actually averaged 2.3 stocks (steals + blocks) per game, and when you pair that with a nearly-unheard of 25% defensive rebounding rate, you see where his value comes from on that side of the ball.

Steinbach may not be a defensive playmaker, but with his good timing and glass dominance, he ends possessions after the first shot.

The Hornets are fond of this style of defense as we’ve seen this season, where rebounding has become their means of limiting opposing teams’ shot totals. Steinbach probably doesn’t offer the anchor style defense that lots of our fellow armchair general managers would insinuate that the Hornets need, but he does fit into the scheme Charles Lee has installed on defense, while significantly raising the capabilities of the offense with his at-the-rim creation and spacing potential.

Honorable Selections: Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr. - Michigan

With the 20th pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the Charlotte Hornets select:

Tounde Yessoufou - Wing - Baylor

Baylor, like Washington, really struggled this year, but in a much more volatile way, with some very high highs and some pretty poor lows. Scott Drew’s offense really lacked a true initiator following the last-minute departure of now-BYU guard Robert Wright III.

Yessoufou was being touted as a lottery guarantee before the season, but has since slid quite a ways down draft boards. This all being said, we feel that his perceived decline has been due to a misunderstanding of what Tounde is at his best, or at least where he contributes the most at the NBA level.

Yessoufou, a 6-foot-5 wing who totes a very impressive and NBA-ready frame at a reported 215 pounds, is an athletic monster. We’ll learn more of his athletic testing at the NBA Draft Combine, but for now what we know is that Yessoufou is one of the premier transition finishers in all of college basketball.

His length allows him to generate steals that led to quick fastbreak scores for himself and others, and he converted his two-point field goals at a 57.1% clip, fairly respectable for what is otherwise an undersized wing. The big question mark around Yessoufou is the three-point shot, where he shot 30%, however that was on 5.4 attempts per night. Those shots, we’ll add, were not being set up for him a good majority of the time.

His self-creation is the key to unlocking some serious potential, but in a system with guards such as LaMelo Ball and Coby White to initiate, and the scoring gravity of Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, he will get lots of chances to do what he does best: finish plays.

The Hornets have gotten great production from the energy and defensive efforts of Josh Green, and while I do think Green’s role isn’t a key position of need for the Hornets, we view Yessoufou as potentially the best possible version of that particular archetype. Yessoufou will rebound, dive for loose balls, run in transition, and is just a physically dominant player who can guard nearly anybody on the perimeter. He embodies Hornets DNA, and whether you like it or not, Charles Lee and Jeff Peterson value that.

Honorable Selections: Joshua Jefferson - Iowa State and Nate Ament - Tennessee

This class adds players who, despite being typecast for their skills on one side of the court, provide help on both ends.

We see a world where Steinbach can play in place of or even alongside the likes of Moussa Diabate and/or Ryan Kalkbrenner given Steinbach’s ability to pass on the inside and his promising spacing potential.

Steinbach is a very skilled center who can make a mismatch pay in multiple ways. His mobility allows the Hornets offense to keep its pace more than many of the other center prospects would allow them too in this class.

Yessoufou has a mountain of potential, but the physical acumen alone makes the upside swing on a player this versatile worth it. He can quickly become somebody who, like Sion James, can be trusted early with key defensive assignments, and will be able to score as the game comes to him.

For what it’s worth, there aren’t many players who would be more fun to watch catch lobs from LaMelo Ball, than Yessoufou.