CHICAGO – As Natasha Cloud was introduced before the Chicago Sky’s home opener on May 20, the crowd of more than 9,000 fans gave her a loud ovation. They welcomed her to her new home, perhaps cognizant of the long road she took to get to the moment where she was wearing a jersey that read “Sky-Town.”
WNBA free agency opened up on April 8, and veterans were snapped up by the league’s 15 teams. Thanks to the new collective bargaining agreement, players were seeing bigger paydays.
But one veteran was left out. Cloud, who won a championship with Washington, then played for Phoenix and New York, had not been signed. Even as training camp started, Cloud – who was named to three WNBA All-Defensive teams – didn’t have a team.
Speculation spread on social media about why Cloud hadn’t been picked up. Was it her social activism? Cloud isn’t shy about championing progressive causes. She wears bracelets in support of a free Palestine, and held a sign reading “Abolish ICE” while being introduced for Unrivaled’s game in her hometown of Philadelphia.
Was it her age of 34? Or was it that she had moved around the league so much? As questions mounted, Cloud stayed quiet. She posted videos on Instagram showing her continuing to work out at her alma mater, St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia.
“During that free agency, I just kind of remained quiet. I think everyone expected me to be ‘Crash Out Tash’ and to be blunt and talk my shit, as I usually do, but there’s growth here,” Cloud said on Wednesday. “There’s growth. 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.”
Part of why she was comfortable being quiet during this time was that she had confidence in what she could do and what she could bring a team.
“It was hard, honestly, because you know you get to the point where it’s like, man, I’ve done this 11 years in a row. I’ve proved everyone wrong. I proved myself right. I continue to show up,” Cloud said.
She leaned on her family and her girlfriend, Toronto Tempo forward Isabelle Harrison, to keep her going when she didn’t know if she would be back in the WNBA.
“My family shielded me for the most part – my family and Izzy – they shielded me from everything. With that protection and being able to go home to St. Joe’s and Coach Griffin and Ashley Prim, who was my college teammate, I just felt safe. I felt safe to be upset, I felt safe to be angry.”
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On May 4, less than a week before the WNBA season tipped off, the Chicago Sky announced they had signed Cloud. It was an interesting signing considering that point guard Skylar Diggins was Chicago’s big splashy free agency signing, and that Chicago’s longtime point guard Courtney Vandersloot is getting closer to returning to the game after an ACL tear.
“I think that there’s obviously a ton of questions on what it will look like having three quality starting caliber point guards,” Sky coach Tyler Marsh said. “At the end of the day, they’re all ballplayers; they all know they will know how to mesh and how to make it work. I think that at times both Tash and Skylar have played off the ball, so it allows Sloot to stay in kind of her natural position when she’s ready to come back, and allows the other two to kind of be off of her and feed off of her. And so we’re looking forward to seeing what that mix looks like.”
Coming into Chicago so late wasn’t easy and balancing a team with so many point guards isn’t easy, but the word the team uses to describe her transition is “seamless.”
“From the moment I was here, I just felt welcomed, I felt valued, I felt wanted, I felt needed, and that just made the whole transition of me coming in seamless, everyone’s ability to really help me learn the plays on the fly,” Cloud said. “I know there was a lot of talk and narratives about the personalities that we have on our team, but those personalities fit really well together. They understand each other, they support each other, and one through 14 is valued, so I enjoy coming to work every single day.”
Cloud’s best game so far with Chicago was in the loss to Dallas on Wednesday night. She scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished five assists. She also received one technical foul for arguing with referees.
Kamilla Cardoso is in her third year with the Sky, and hadn’t crossed paths with Cloud before they became teammates.
“She’s an amazing vet. She fit right in, and she’s been important for me,” Cardoso said. “Sometimes I have a lack of confidence in myself. Since day one, I think I never spoke to her before our first practice together, and she always pours into me. She is always telling me how great I am, and how nobody can mess with me, and she helps me a lot. It just makes me happy, and I play with confidence.”
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Cloud is the kind of player Chicago tends to fall in love with, as she doesn’t think twice about sacrificing her body for a play, but still plays with a high IQ.
But it’s about more than being a gritty player. Cloud is outspoken, and she speaks to the concerns of many of the people who will cheer her on. While still in New York, she met with mayor Zohran Mamdani and is hoping to work with Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson to make an impact on people’s lives. If there’s blowback for that, she’s prepared for it.
“I grew up as the youngest of five. My dad worked two jobs to keep a roof over our head and food on the table. There’s a lot of days that he went without eating. There’s a lot of times that my mom went without clothes just to purchase for us. Just because I am super blessed to play basketball doesn’t mean that I didn’t come from humble beginnings, or what it means to live paycheck to paycheck,” Cloud said.
“Being in this position, I know there’s too much out here, there’s too much money, there’s too many resources, there’s too much power, too much opportunity for everyone not to have a dignified life. So that’s what I advocate for. If I’m villainized for doing that, then I’m the motherfuckin’ villain now. I’m villain number one.”