Sidy Cissoko’s 51st game of the season will come with an added gift:
A new contract.
The Portland Trail Blazers have converted Cissoko’s two-way contract into a standard deal, the team announced Friday morning, elevating him to the team’s 15-man regular roster. The deal will run through the 2026-27 season, according to a league source.
To make room for the 21-year-old forward on the regular roster, the Blazers waived Rayan Rupert.
Cissoko has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the Blazers’ season, blossoming from a two-way role player into an important rotation piece as injuries besieged the roster. A versatile and physical defender who plays hard and with passion, Cissoko has frustrated countless opposing offensive players this season with in-your-face tenacity and relentless energy.
He’s averaging just 6.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists, while shooting 41% from the field, but his full-court defense and firebrand playing style have been contagious on a team that has seen 13 players miss a combined 314 games this season due to injury and illness. Cissoko ranks fourth in the NBA in offensive fouls drawn with 30 and it’s almost become an expectation to see him diving in pursuit of loose balls and sacrificing his body on defense.
Cissoko opened the season in the G League, but was forced into action on Nov. 3 after injuries to Matisse Thybulle and Blake Wesley, among others, created a void in the rotation. Cissoko never surrendered the spot, playing in 50 games, including 24 starts. Two-way players are limited to just 50 NBA games in a season, however, so the Blazers had to make a cut to keep Cissoko on their active roster over the final seven weeks.
Rupert was the odd man out.
The 6-7 guard was selected by the Blazers with the No. 43 overall pick of the 2023 NBA draft, but played sparingly over three seasons, averaging just 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 139 games.
Cissoko, who is from France, was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the same draft — one spot after Rupert — at No. 44 overall. But he spent most of his Spurs tenure in the G League, playing in just 29 games over parts of two seasons, before the Spurs traded him to the Sacramento Kings in a multi-team deal last February.
A few days after the trade, the Kings shipped Cissoko to the Washington Wizards, and they promptly waived him. They Blazers pounced, signing Cissoko to a two-way deal.
The Blazers’ roster now stands at 17, which includes two-way players Caleb Love and Javonte Cooke.