New York Liberty Add Natasha Cloud to Championship Roster in Major WNBA Trade
On February 2, it was announced that former Phoenix Mercury guard Natasha Cloud had been traded to the Connecticut Sun in a four-team trade that also involved the Dallas Wings, the Indiana Fever, and Phoenix.
Soon after this, Cloud went viral for some critical comments she made regarding the trade. She said, "That was really hard for me, uprooting my family to the West Coast, being told I was going to retire as a Phoenix Mercury, and to then be shipped out and find out with you guys on social media, that was really fun for me." That last bit was sarcastic.
"That part of it was really hard. Even harder than being sent to Connecticut as a 33-year-old, it just wasn't what I expected," Cloud continued. "Not for the tenure that I had, not for the loyalty that I've presented. So I just want the best situation for myself and my family moving forward, and I just want to be in an organization that truly invests from top to bottom: facilities, team, location, all of that. I want to compete for championships."
The expectation is that Connecticut will be among the WNBA's worst teams in 2025 after all of their starting lineup was traded or signed elsewhere in free agency.
However, Cloud doesn't have to worry about this any longer, because news broke on Sunday that Cloud was traded to the 2024 WNBA Champion New York Liberty in exchange for the No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft and the Liberty’s 2026 future first-round pick.
The NY Liberty welcomes veteran guard, Natasha Cloud!🗽
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) March 17, 2025
Welcome to NY, @T_Cloud4! 💪☁️ pic.twitter.com/c2qhbWj1Y6
It's going to be fascinating to see how Cloud fits in alongside Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich, and Jonquel Jones on New York's roster.
If the Liberty weren't already favorites to win the 2025 WNBA title, adding Cloud might have made them so.
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Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.