When WNBA fan favorite guard Natasha Cloud sat on the free agent market for weeks this past offseason, social media commentators and content creators assumed the worst.
Because Cloud is known among basketball fans for her advocacy for the players’ union and outspokenness on social and political issues, even campaigning with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani last year, many believed Cloud was being black-balled by teams and owners who wanted to send a message. Several posts and videos went viral alleging that Cloud was being punished.
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In an interview on the Bird’s Eye View podcast with WNBA legend turned NBA commentator Sue Bird, Cloud came clean about the situation, acknowledging that backlash to her activism did play a role in how free agency played out, but that she is largely still uncertain about why the New York Liberty cut bait and her market dried up.
Cloud explained that reports showing she changed agencies multiple times during free agency were accurate, and the situation began because she hired a marketing group to help her get endorsement deals after her agent began warning that her outspokenness was coming at a cost.
“My contract was terminated because I hired an outside marketing agency,” Cloud explained. “Because I was a really happy with the agency that I was with on the court, [it] was amazing; always got my contracts, my basketball deals on the court, but when it came to off the court, I was just being told I wasn’t marketable. I was being told my activism was a reason as to why I wasn’t getting certain deals and sponsorships.”
While Cloud believed she had an “understanding” with the original agency about hiring a marketing team, the agency terminated its contract with Cloud two days before the WNBA expansion draft.
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Cloud attempted to get clarity from the Liberty about their vision, but felt she was left in the dark when she was cut by the team.
The next agency Cloud moved to, she said, had bigger priorities. So, she switched once again, after free agency was already underway.
It wasn’t until just before the start of the season that the Chicago Sky finally signed Cloud. The 11-year veteran and 2019 WNBA champion still feels she was not given adequate explanation from the Liberty or other potential free agency suitors as to why she went unclaimed for so long.
“I couldn’t tell you why I was in this situation. I couldn’t tell you, still, an answer. I didn’t get one,” Cloud explained. “In some of these instances, I just wanted the human capacity to have hard dialogues, to avoid the emotions.”
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Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb told reporters in the spring that the team simply had other priorities, and endorsed Cloud as worthy of a WNBA roster spot.
But Cloud revealed that she began to internalize her worst fears that organizing, fundraising, and campaigning around hot-button issues was in fact getting in the way of her playing career.
“I was terrified,” she told Bird. “How am I here? How did I get to this point? Is it my activism? A lot of people were denouncing it, but I still can’t denounce it, right? Is it my agency? Is it that I just wasn’t given the transparency that I asked for?”
While the WNBA is known for being difficult on fringe players trying to make a roster, it’s uncommon for a player with Cloud’s productivity and pedigree to go from a top player on championship-contending teams to out of the league in one season. Fortunately for Cloud, the Chicago Sky stepped up to give her a new home for the 2026 season. But because she is no closer to a true answer about what happened in the offseason, Cloud clearly still feels she is on unstable ground going forward in her career.
The post Natasha Cloud opens up on how activism may have impacted her WNBA free agency market appeared first on Awful Announcing.
