Hannes Steinbach

Hannes Steinbach (born May 1, 2006) is an Germany basketball player for the Washington Huskies of the Big Ten Conference (B1G).^[2][3][4]

The son of former Würzburg Bundesliga player Burkhard Steinbach, he went through the Würzburg Baskets youth program,^[5] and was also coached by his father for a time.^[6] With the Würzburg men's second team, he was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga ProB in 2024 as champions of the 1st Regionalliga Süd-Ost (South-East Regional League).^[7] In the summer of 2024, Steinbach was signed to his first contract as a professional basketball player in Würzburg and made his debut in the Basketball Bundesliga at the end of September 2024.^[8] In April 2025, his decision to move to the United States for the 2025/26 season was announced, where he will play and study at the University of Washington, just like other well-known Germans (Detlef Schrempf, Christian Welp, and Patrick Femerling) have done before him.^[9] In the 2024/25 Bundesliga main round, Steinbach averaged 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 31 appearances. In the subsequent ten games of the quarterfinal and semifinal series for the German championship, he increased these averages to 14.8 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.^[10]

With the German U18 national team, he won bronze^[11] at the European Championship in 2023 and became U18 European Champion in 2024.^[12] Steinbach contributed to the 2024 European Championship win, averaging 15.4 points and 12.5 rebounds per game and was selected to the U18 European Championship Team of the Tournament.^[13] That same year, Steinbach finished third with the German team at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament.^[14] In July 2025, he reached the final of the U19 World Championship with Germany, losing to the United States.^[15] Steinbach was the best German player in both statistical categories at the U19 World Championship, averaging 17.2 points and 14 rebounds per game.^[16] He was named to the five best players of the World Cup tournament.^[17]