The Golden State Warriors headed to Portland for a Tuesday night contest against the Trail Blazers, after already handing them a loss earlier in the preseason by making a 21-point comeback. Without Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green, Golden State took care of business once again, handing Portland a 118-111 loss.
It was a promising performance from Golden State, especially from rookie Will Richard. While Golden State still has one preseason game left on its schedule with a Friday contest against the Los Angeles Clippers, the front office decided to make a move and waive two NBA hopefuls who have appeared for them in the preseason.
In a news release from Warriors PR, the team announced that they have waived center Marques Bolden and guard Taevion Kinsey on Wednesday. Both players appeared in the preseason for Golden State, coming off the bench and seeing a handful of minutes across multiple appearances.
Background On Bolden And Kinsey
Starting with Bolden, he was like any typical Duke player, a top recruit hoping to go one-and-done and be a first-round NBA draft pick. However, he’d end up staying with the Blue Devils for three seasons, finally earning some consistent playing time as a junior before going undrafted in 2019.
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Since then, Bolden has bounced around by signing various two-way and Exhibit 10 deals, with his longest tenure being nine games with two starts on the Charlotte Hornets in the 2023-24 season. He’s had some solid stints in the G League, but hasn’t been able to find his footing with a team.
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As for Kinsey, he was a five-year player for Marshall, starting in 130 of 154 games. In his final season, he averaged 22.1 points per game to go with 5.4 assists and 4.9 rebounds. However, even though he shot 40.4% from three, the volume wasn’t there (1.5 attempts), leading him to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Utah Jazz in 2023.
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Since then, he’s been around the Jazz’s G League affiliate for two seasons now, averaging around 12 points per game. Even though he was waived by Golden State, he’ll likely find his way to the Santa Cruz Warriors to join their G League affiliate.
Golden State already has its roster filled out and two-way spots occupied, so Bolden and Kinsey will likely both head to the G League, where they can continue to develop and compete for a two-way or standard roster spot down the line.