Trail Blazers Sign Sidy Cissoko to Two-Way Contract, Waive Taze Moore
The 20-year-old French wing was a teammate of Scoot Henderson with G League Ignite.
📍MINNEAPOLIS — The Trail Blazers signed 20-year-old French wing Sidy Cissoko to a two-way contract on Saturday, waiving Taze Moore.
Cissoko, the No. 44 overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 draft, was a teammate of Scoot Henderson with G League Ignite in 2022-23. He was one of the players the Blazers brought in for a predraft workout before that draft. Blazers assistant coach (and Rip City Remix assistant general manager) Pooh Jeter was also a teammate of Henderson and Cissoko on Ignite that year.
Cissoko hasn’t gotten on the court much for the Spurs. He’s played 29 games in his two seasons in the NBA, averaging 2.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.7 minutes per game. He’s spent much more time with the Austin Spurs; presumably, he will spend the majority of his time with the Remix now that he’s in the Blazers organization.
In May of 2022, weeks before he accepted a job with the Blazers, assistant GM Mike Schmitz had Cissoko projected as a first-round pick in a 2023 mock draft, and wrote this in a scouting report:
Cissoko is a powerful 6-7 guard/wing who offers an intriguing blend of strength, court vision and defensive potential. A late bloomer who didn't truly burst onto the scene in Europe until the 2021 U18 European Championships, Cissoko had some tremendous highs playing for Baskonia's second team in LEB Gold, scoring 16 points or more eight times against grown men at just 17 years old.
An above-the-rim athlete in Spain, Cissoko didn't look quite as quick or vertically explosive in a Nike Hoop Summit setting, and his lack of wiggle and handle slowed him down in shot-creation situations. But when viewed through the lens of a playmaking wing who doesn't need to be the primary ball handler, Cissoko is quite interesting. With measurements similar to RJ Barrett's at the same stage, Cissoko has the body to guard wings (and even some small-ball 4s) when fully motivated. He's not a consistent shooter right now, converting just 26% of his career 170 3s according to our database, but his mechanics are projectable, and if Cissoko can make just enough spot 3s to force hard closeouts, he'll be able to use his physicality and court vision to add value as a playmaker, as we saw in the Nike Hoop Summit game.
Cissoko played with much better defensive energy than we saw at times in LEB Gold action, collecting three steals and one block in just 23 minutes while dazzling with several no-look feeds. He's comfortable in pick-and-roll -- using both sides of the floor as a passer -- even if he can be a bit wild or careless with his decision-making. Overall, Cissoko is still finding his identity as a player. But the French-Senegalese prospect has a solid foundation to work with given his size, strength, defensive potential and playmaking potential.
As a use of a two-way contract, Cissoko is more in line with Ibou Badji, a long-term developmental project who spent parts of the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons in Portland on a two-way deal, than it is with someone like Justin Minaya, who is more of a plug-and-play rotation player. Cissoko is even younger than Henderson, having not turned 21 yet, and will have plenty of opportunity to play with the Remix if the Blazers keep winning, or even get some more NBA run if they shift back into developmental mode.