When WNBA training camps opened this spring, veteran point guard Natasha Cloud was conspicuously absent. Many wondered: why was a three-time All-Defense selection and 2019 champion left unsigned for so long?
The speculation ranged. Maybe it was her activism and outspoken nature. Maybe it was her age. Maybe it was a sign of the league’s “middle-class” being squeezed.
The Sky ultimately signed her to a one-year deal on May 6. Cloud said Wednesday she doesn’t know why it took so long to find a home.
“Everyone wants me to have an answer,” Cloud said. “I don’t have an answer for why my situation was what it was.”
Cloud, 34, admitted she was afraid of being left out of the league entirely. Given her resume and the fact that she still feels like she’s in her prime, the long wait surprised her. Last season, Cloud started for the Liberty, averaging 10 points and five assists per game. She said she was happy in New York, but the franchise did not bring her back.
Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said parting ways with Cloud “wasn’t about fit” or her activism, but rather a reflection of their specific free-agency targets and a condensed timeline. He called her a “phenomenal teammate” and an “awesome human being.”
Still, Cloud said she never felt like she got a full explanation.
“I appreciate all the kind words said about me, but I still don’t have an answer,” Cloud said. “That’s not my burden to carry or to stress about. I did everything I needed to do as a player, as a person in the community, and sometimes that isn’t valued the way that it should be. So what you do is you pivot.”
Cloud said her previous agency released her just days before the draft on April 13. She ultimately signed with Fabio Jardine and First Pick Management, a move she credits with “saving the day.”
She said she still doesn’t know if her activism kept certain teams at bay, and she made clear she’s not going to change that part of herself.
But she does think the limbo period gave her something to prove, and her decision to refrain from speaking out publicly during it showed growth.
“I think everyone expected me to be ‘crash-out Tash’ and to be blunt and talk my [stuff] as I usually do, but there’s growth here,” Cloud said. “I’ve really worked on who I am as a human being. I’ve worked on my water as well as my fire and when to use it.
“So I changed my perspective of it. It wasn’t ‘woe is me,’ it wasn’t ‘sad me.’ It was, ‘I’m going to work, and when I get that opportunity I’m going to come in and smack the [crap] out of everybody — because that’s just who I am.”
Cloud is playing with that kind of energy in Chicago. She is averaging 8.3 points and 4.7 assists in 24 minutes per game. Her defense and leadership has been central to the team’s 3-1 start. Now, her versatility will be key for an undersized roster that was just dealt a massive blow: losing star forward Rickea Jackson to a season-ending ACL injury.
In Chicago, Cloud said she feels wanted, valued, and aligned with a group trying to rewrite its narrative — organization included.
“I will say Chicago has completely revamped,” Cloud said. “I think they took all the [crap] being said the last few years and they put their money where their mouth is and they invested into this thing completely. And to be here when it’s being revamped is a meaningful feeling.”
As for the lack of closure with New York, she’s trying not to let it hold her back.
“Everyone here has been in a relationship where there’s no closure and you just move on and you move forward and the next relationship is great,” she said. “I’m in this next relationship and I’m loving life. That doesn’t mean I still don’t have a lot of love for Brooklyn.”
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