Natasha Cloud wasn’t expecting this type of welcome. The Philly native who grew up just a few hours from the Brooklyn borough she now calls home practically leapt out of the black SUV
she was riding in once it pulled up to Barclays Center.
On an overcast day in mid-April, Cloud was welcomed to the New York Liberty with a seafoam carpet roll out. “WELCOME TO BROOKLYN” signage filled nearly every LED screen in and around the arena, from the marquee outside to the video board in the team’s locker room, where her Rebel Edition threads were already set up. Coaches, front office staff, the PR department and the social media team huddled around the organization’s star offseason pick-up, capturing every second of her first day. You couldn’t get Cloud to stop smiling if you tried. And after an offseason filled with uncertainty, there’s a genuine joy behind her grin. She’s back on Cloud 9.
“I just kind of thought that I was coming in and just getting my locker. I’ve never had a big kind of reveal like that. So when I came and everyone was kind of outside, it was a shock for me, especially with the way that I was traded. It has been hard to kind of trust in the next process, but I truly am in the place that I’m meant to be,” Cloud told us when she sat down for her SLAM 256 cover shoot in early May. “So I’m just really thankful to be here, be part of this organization and to be in a position to even compete for championships again. That’s really all I want at this point in my career. I feel like I have a lot left to give the game, and this is the best place for me to try and go win a championship with this group of people, with this coaching staff, with this front office. I’m really excited.”
To fully understand how we got to the corner of Flatbush Ave. and Atlantic Ave., we’ve got to take it back to the winter of 2024, when the future wasn’t so certain. With free agency looming at the end of her eighth season with the Washington Mystics, Cloud says she was never offered an extension from the team she helped lead to six playoff appearances and the 2019 WNBA championship. The lack of commitment bruised her ego. So she leaned into the challenges that arose with a new organization and a new city, locking in with the Phoenix Mercury on a two-year deal. “This was, like, my big kind of leap to see if I can spread my wings and fly and be who I was for DC, be that in Phoenix. And so I did that,” Cloud says.
The crop top papi poured in 11.5 points, 6.9 dimes and 1.4 steals a night, notching her third All-Defensive team selection and leading the Mercury to the first round of the 2024 WNBA playoffs before they were knocked out in two games by a Finals-bound Lynx squad.
The past few seasons have been, as Cloud puts it, “a whirlwind,” but the 2022 assist champ was feeling good about riding out the rest of her career in the desert. That was until she started scrolling through her social media feed while at Unrivaled in early February and found out she’d been traded, without warning, to a Connecticut Sun organization in rebuild mode.
“I very much said my piece after those calls, because for me as a player, you asked me to do a few things: to show up, to change a culture, to bring you back to the playoffs. And I did all three things while also having one of my best statistical years,” Cloud says. “So on paper, it doesn’t really make sense, but from the business aspect, I understand. So that’s all for me as a player, telling my truth of the story is just that, the business side of things fans don’t always see, the media don’t always see, but there is still a healthy way of doing business.
“So not only am I being traded in the middle of an offseason, which was not communicated to me, unexpected, didn’t necessarily make sense, but [I’m] having to do it in front of my co-workers and go in the next day with people that I actually was traded for,” she continues. “So emotionally, that was really hard. But the beauty of this game is, it has always been my oasis. So when things got really chaotic and tough for me emotionally, mentally, spiritually, within that trade, I just really dove back into basketball. And like it always has, it kind of saved me, kept my head above water.”
The gym is where Cloud says she can be both vulnerable and comfortable with herself. The frustration and confusion of the past few months were channeled into every drill, every jumper, every lift. She found comfort in conversations with her therapist, the community in the Phantom BC’s locker room and a newly established backcourt connection with Unrivaled teammate Sabrina Ionescu.
The drive and hunger to compete for a championship were still as strong as when she was a rookie, but Cloud and the Sun knew their timelines to that goal didn’t align, so she asked the front office to do right by her. “I need y’all to help me at this point in my career to just put me in a place that I deserve to be in,” she explains. A week before she was set to leave Miami, Cloud got a call from New York Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb. She wasn’t just heading to a contender, she was teaming up with the reigning champs.
“I truly feel saved in a lot of ways,” Cloud says. “I know that sounds dramatic, but where my feet are today is truly a blessing. I’m so grateful to be where I am. I’m really grateful to put this Liberty jersey on and excited. Excited to play for this organization. Excited to play for this community. Excited to be in a city that is just like what I’m used to. Nitty gritty. We get everything out the mud. We appreciate hard workers. We don’t put up with no bulls**t. I like to think that I’m the New York menace. I’m going to change my name to that. I used to say, ***hole. I think New York menace is better.”
A new oasis resides in Brooklyn. One where Cloud can facilitate freely, put the clamps on ballhandlers with confidence and drop buckets at will. She’s already locked in with head coach Sandy Brondello on how to be an extension of her vision on the court. And the overwhelming depth the Liberty have entering this season hasn’t been lost on her either. Cloud’s taking ownership in making sure that everybody eats. Sab. Stewie. Jonquel. Leonie. Marine. Nyara. Izzy. Kennedy. Everyone’s getting touches.
“And then defensively, I’m our dog. There’s going to be a bunch of dogs on defense, but I like to think that I’m the head of the snake of that. So the pressure that I apply will get us going,” Cloud
says. “We get to play with pace and in transition. And that’s where basketball really gets to become fun—when you get to play positionless. And that’s why I’m so excited to be here.”
The main point guard duties will fall to Cloud 9, allowing Ionescu to find even more success off the ball. We’ve already seen the guard-on-guard screening actions play out perfectly in training camp with Cloud whipping over-the-shoulder passes to Ionescu at the three-point line after drawing her defender away. It’s all just a continuation of the chemistry they developed together this offseason.
“I’m pretty sure Sab probably didn’t like me when we got to Unrivaled,” Cloud says with a laugh. “Mainly because I’m the one who defends her as the opposing player. And for me, Sab is one of the best guards in our league. So when I played against New York, like, I got to get into her s**t. I got to bully her and push her off her places. So, yeah, in turn, I don’t really think she messed with me that much.”
With lockers right next to each other, the bond we’ve come to see across the Liberty’s social channels formed quickly. “I just remember being around her and just being like, Wow, you’re low-key funny. Like, Sab says lowkey s**t all the time that’s hilarious,” Cloud says. “And it just kind of fit. Like, the vibes were immaculate. We really did get along.”
Instead of using training camp to adapt to each other’s play styles, they built on the foundation that was laid in Miami. Cloud knows how Ionescu moves, where her spots are and how to “set her up, get easier shots for her and really just make her life just a tad bit easier.” The preseason has been proof enough with Cloud already building out cerebral connections across the roster, allowing everyone to tap into a new feeling: an oasis of creativity.
These first few weeks in Brooklyn have been a refreshing yet familiar shift. She’s enjoying the pace of Brooklyn, walking to practice every day, interacting with fans and those who “notice my dogs before me, which is low-key cool,” she says. She’s back on the East Coast and more importantly, back to competing for championships.
“Overall though, I want to be exactly who I said I am. That was the goal with moving from DC to Phoenix. That’s the same goal here in New York,” Cloud says. “I’m going to prove I’m exactly who I said I am. There is not a selfish bone in my body. I will do whatever this team needs on any given night. If that’s scoring, if that’s not scoring, if that’s defending, if not, whatever it is. I’m just going to be that piece, that role player, whatever, every single night. But yeah, I’m going to get into the people’s s**t, too. I’m gonna be the menace.”
Portraits by Alex Subers.
The post Back on Cloud 9: New York Liberty Star Natasha Cloud Covers SLAM 256 appeared first on SLAM.
