Natasha Cloud, you are a New York Liberty!
On Sunday, the Connecticut Sun and the Liberty decided to ensure everyone paid attention during Selection Sunday (and the Unrivaled Semifinals) by casually enacting a massive trade ― no big deal. Yep, the Sun sent guard Natasha Cloud, acquired in the Alyssa Thomas trade earlier this offseason, to New York.
Cloud, who spent less than two months with Connecticut, joins the Liberty after eight seasons with the Washington Mystics and one season with the Phoenix Mercury. The veteran guard is a WNBA champion and has received multiple WNBA All-Defensive First and Second Team honors.
Trade details
The Liberty get: Guard Natasha Cloud
The Sun get: The No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft and a 2026 first-round pick
New York Liberty grade
The weather just got a bit Cloud-y in New York. (See what I did there? Eh? Okay, fine. I’ll show myself out.)
In February, Madeline Kenney of the New York Post reported that the Liberty approached Connecticut about Natasha Cloud for the No. 7 overall pick and a future first-rounder, but the Sun turned it down. However, now Cloud is in the Big Apple for *checks notes* the No. 7 overall pick and a future first-round pick.
So, what changed?
That remains unclear, but at any rate, Cloud, who wasn’t thrilled about being traded away to the Sun, gets a fresh start in New York alongside Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart. Do what you will with this information, but having Ionescu as a teammate at Unrivaled will likely help with the early chemistry building for Cloud. It also doesn’t hurt that Stewie was at the facilities in Florida, too. Moreover, Cloud’s girlfriend, forward Izzy Harrison, was picked up by New York several weeks back, and that’s a significant win for being familiar with a new team.
From the Liberty’s standpoint, it’s clear that Cloud was a preferred target after losing Courtney Vandersloot to the Chicago Sky. They get a starting point guard who can score, facilitate, and is a very good defender. The upside is that guard Leonie Fiebich, who started over Sloot in last year’s playoffs, is fully capable of starting should the Liberty ask her to, and WHEW, BUDDY ― now, she’s an immediate way-too-early candidate for Sixth Player of the Year.
Fiebich is a bigger guard at 6 foot-4, which causes opponents A LOT of problems. She can also shoot the lights out from deep. That has to make New York feel good about its bench depth and potential chances of winning back-to-back championships.
Now, the elephant in the room: TWO FIRST-ROUND PICKS?! IN THIS ECONOMY?! Nope. Do not love.
Giving up the No. 7 overall pick this year leaves the Liberty with just a single selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft ― the very last pick of the draft. OOF. Maybe they recoup some of the lost draft capital down the road, but if we’re honest about the situation, the likelihood that a late third-round pick makes the roster is not very high. Also, New York is already starting the 2026 draft without a first-round pick. OOF AGAIN.
The only solace is that they didn’t give up a 2027 first-rounder (the Juju Watkins et al. draft); otherwise, I would have fallen to my knees in the middle of a Costco and started wailing like an unruly toddler.
Grade: B
Connecticut Sun grade
Alight, Sun. Lose all five starters, lean into the rebuild and walk away with TWO first-round picks to help with all the changes and build for the future ― not too shabby, general manager Morgan Tuck.
I wasn’t sure where Connecticut was going by unraveling half its roster, but things look a bit better. All eyes will now be on the Sun as they currently hold pick No. 7 and pick No. 8 overall. What will the Sun do with the picks? Will they get a point guard? ( Georgia Amoore?) Will they pick up a big? (Ajsa Sivka of Slovenia?) However, there’s another huge question no one seems to know the answer to.
WHAT ARE THE SUN DOING WITH MARINA MABREY?!
No, really. How are the Sun keeping Marina Mabrey after initially rebuffing a Natasha Cloud trade?
This is really awkward. I get wanting to keep some pieces for the rebuild and not giving in because that means admitting the Mabrey trade from last season didn’t work out. But, C’MON, CONNECTICUT. This looks VERY messy optically, and I’m sure her agent might not be thrilled. I don’t know what the team is doing here, but it’s something to watch. Will Mabrey even be on the roster after the 2025 trade deadline?
Grade: A-
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Natasha Cloud trade grades: Who won the Sun and Liberty deal?
