“If I can die on the court, I will die on the court.”
Sidy Cissoko made this statement to a small group of reporters in front of his locker after a standout game in December. The Portland Trail Blazers forward was remembering a lesson his dad taught him long ago — if you don’t play with your heart, you shouldn’t play basketball — before he brought up life and death.
“Let’s not get carried away now,” a reporter quipped, getting a big grin out of Cissoko.
“For sure,” Cissoko continued. “But I think overseas, you’ve gotta have a mentality of ‘die for the team.’ I think that’s what I bring.”
The words from the 21-year-old Frenchman could sound melodramatic — unless you’ve witnessed what he brings to the floor every night. It comes out when he dogs opponents on defense or flies to the rim with no regard for how his body crashes to the hardwood. It shows when he flexes and roars after big dunks, game-changing charges, or a second-quarter 3-pointer (see below).
PORTLAND, OREGON – JANUARY 09: Sidy Cissoko #91 of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts after a basket against the Houston Rockets during the second quarter at Moda Center on January 09, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Amanda Loman/Getty Images) Getty Images
Intensity. Emotion. Getting carried away. Those traits may be Cissoko’s greatest basketball gifts, enhanced by his strong and athletic 6-foot-6 frame, and he’s finally gotten to unleash them this season after injuries rocked Portland’s roster and unexpectedly pushed the third-year forward into a nightly role.
“He plays with so much energy, so much swag, and you want guys to play like that,” Blazers rookie guard Caleb Love said. “You want guys that are gonna go out there in the fire and not be afraid. That’s definitely Sidy. That’s his identity.”
Beyond his on-court impact, Cissoko has brought a boost to the locker room as one of the team’s liveliest personalities. Quick to smile, chat and call his teammates “brothers,” he has helped forge the chemistry the Blazers have leaned on during low points in the long NBA season.
“People don’t realize how much just speaking to people when you come in the room or lightening the mood when you come in [can make a difference] — cracking jokes, even just touching people on the shoulder sometimes,” Portland center Robert Williams III said. “That’s something I kinda thrive on … So I notice it in [Sidy]. He does it a lot on and off the court.”
Both sides of Cissoko — the intense and the lighthearted — have combined to make him an easy fan favorite. A former second-round pick fighting to stay in the league, he has seized his opportunity to keep his NBA dream alive, impact wins and become one of the season’s best feel-good stories.
While Cissoko has only just burst onto the scene in Portland, he told Blazer’s Edge he has played with this passion for as long has he can remember, dating back to his early days in the small Paris suburb of Saint-Maurice, France.
Sidy remembers the day he told his father he wanted to play professional basketball. He was 5 years old, making the short walk across the street from his family’s Saint-Maurice home to school when he revealed his dream.
“He said, ‘Okay, let’s do it,’” Sidy recalled.
Standing at 6-foot-5, Yaya Cissoko played professional basketball himself. He represented Senegal in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and played professionally in France before coaching in the country. Yaya used that experience to give Sidy advice about how to approach the game during his basketball journey. Not long after that walk to school, he offered that lesson about playing with heart, the one Sidy still references today.
“You know when you tell something to a kid, it just [sticks in their] brain?“ Sidy said.
From then on, Sidy followed that notion like a directive and told everybody he was going to make the NBA. An immediate standout in youth basketball, he left home at just 13 to join the youth program for the professional club Baskonia in Spain.
“When I read the interview, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, if he needs to die somewhere, it’s definitely on the court,’” said Daffa Cissoko, 18, Sidy’s younger sister who plays for the University of Oklahoma women’s basketball team. “Sidy gives everything. On and off the court, Sidy loves basketball, lives basketball, and it’s been like this. … My parents said that it was even worse when he was a kid.”
Rostered on Spanish professional teams during his teenage years, Sidy also played in international competitions with France’s junior national team. That’s where he first joined forces with current Blazers teammate Rayan Rupert, who can vouch Sidy played with his trademark intensity when they met at age 16. The two became close friends, in part because they roomed together for two months in Turkey for the 2022 U18 European Championship. The close-quarters experience, full of late-night conversations and games of FIFA, provided another window into Sidy’s spirit.
“He has so much energy,” said Rupert with a laugh. “Sometimes at night, I just wanted to sleep, and he was talking.”
After spending the 2022-23 season with the NBA G League Ignite, the Spurs selected Sidy with the No. 44 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft (one spot after Portland selected Rupert). But during a season and a half in San Antonio, Sidy didn’t crack the rotation. He averaged just 6.7 minutes per outing in 29 games and spent time with their G League affiliate in Austin. Then his circumstances got upended last February.
In a whirlwind five days, Sidy was traded, traded again, waived and scooped up by Portland on a two-way contract. The developmental tool allows teams to sign players for half of the NBA rookie minimum at about $550,000. These players split time between the NBA team and its G League affiliate, but they’re limited to 50 games on the active NBA roster, unless the organization converts them to a standard NBA contract.
“[My coaches] said every player here in the NBA gets at least one opportunity one day,” Sidy said. “So I think I was just ready.”
That opportunity arrived in November when mounting injuries presented Sidy with a chance for rotation minutes. Sidy has now appeared in 43 straight games, including 22 starts. He has popped as a physical, versatile defender, while fitting into the offense as a cutter and willing shooter, with passing and ball-handling skills that indicate untapped potential.
The traditional box score numbers are modest — 6.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.7 steals in 21.6 minutes per game while shooting 31.9% from beyond the arc on 3.2 attempts. But Sidy’s larger impact lies in the margins where he scraps for loose balls and pursues opponents around screens. He has drawn 27 offensive fouls, tied for fourth most in the NBA this season. He’s tied for the team lead as a three-time recipient of The Box, the honor the coaching staff bestows to the team’s best defender after a win.
“Effort is a big talent in this league. It’s a talent, and he brings it every night,” Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter said. “You know he’s gonna try to do the right thing. He’s gonna compete. He’s gonna box out. He’s gonna run. He’s gonna push the pace. Sometimes there’s gonna be mistakes, but you’re gonna live with them. He just puts his heart [out] there.”
Big-time performances have punctuated the everyday effort: 15 points and three 3s in a 127-123 win over the Golden State Warriors in November; 16 points and pestering defense on MVP candidate Cade Cunningham in an admirable comeback attempt versus the Detroit Pistons in December; 13 points, perfect shooting, three steals and a plus-28 showing in a 111-105 win against the Houston Rockets in January, Portland’s second win over the Western Conference contender in three days at the time.
After an onslaught of injuries and heartbreaking losses threatened to unravel Portland, Sidy has been a key member of the patchwork crew around star Deni Avdija that has kept the season afloat. The group’s perseverance led to a breakthrough January, putting the Blazers back around .500, still firmly in the Western Conference Play-In picture.
PORTLAND, OR – JANUARY 9: Sidy Cissoko #91 of the Portland Trail Blazers talks to the media after the game against the Houston Rockets on January 9, 2026 at the Moda Center Arena in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Soobum Im/NBAE via Getty Images) NBAE via Getty Images
Sidy’s emergence means the Blazers need to make a decision soon. He has just seven available games left this season before Portland has to convert him to a standard contract or send him to the G League. The Blazers don’t have an open roster spot, so they’ll have to clear space with a deal before the Feb. 5 trade deadline or make roster cuts if they want to continue playing Sidy and/or Love, another two-way player who has been instrumental in the rotation.
While the media and fans have speculated about his contract situation, Sidy said he isn’t worried. He believes allowing those thoughts to take up his headspace can only lead to bad results. So he remains focused on the next game and the climb — grateful to be living his NBA dream on the court after years of pouring in patience, work, energy and emotion.
“I think I’ve come from far,” Sidy said. “ … It’s something tough, and it’s a blessing. And sometimes you don’t know how to react. So sometimes you just cry. Or sometimes you just have high emotion in the heart.”