Natasha Cloud Ready for Sky After "Interesting" Free Agency

Natasha Cloud still doesn't have an answer for 'interesting' free agency, but she's ready for the Sky anyway

Cloud signed with Chicago after an extended stay on the market this offseason

By Jack Maloney

May 20, 2026 at 4:01 pm ET • 4 min read

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CHICAGO -- Natasha Cloud still doesn't know why she went unsigned until well after training camps began, but the 11-year veteran is happy that Chicago Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca had the "balls" to sign her when so many other teams would not.

"My free agency was interesting, to say the least. It's no surprise that I didn't expect to be where I was," Cloud said Wednesday morning, just hours before the new-look Sky host the Dallas Wings in their home opener. "Everyone wants me to have an answer. I don't have an answer for why my situation was what it was."

Cloud, who won a championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019 and has made three All-Defensive teams during her career, was traded twice last offseason, first from the Phoenix Mercury to the Connecticut Sun as part of the Alyssa Thomas deal, and then to the New York Liberty in exchange for two first-round picks. While she was productive in 41 appearances as the Liberty's starting point guard in 2025 -- she averaged 10.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.2 steals -- the organization decided to go in a different direction this spring.

No one, Cloud included, thought it would take long for her to find a new team, but as free agency wound down and training camps started up, she remained unsigned.

"I feel like I did everything that I needed to do, whether it was as a player, as a person in the community, and sometimes that isn't valued the way that it should be," Cloud said of her time in New York. "What you do is you pivot. I'd be lying if there wasn't a span of anxiety and freaking out and being fearful of not being back in the league that I've given 11 years to.

"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 continued. "There's growth. I've really worked on who I am as a human being... It wasn't 'woe me,' it wasn't 'sad me,' it was 'I'm gonna work and when I get that opportunity I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna smack the shit out of everybody.'"

Her status became one of the biggest stories in the league, especially as unfounded rumors spread on social media that she was being blackballed for her activism. Cloud, who remained silent throughout the process, had also been released from her agency two days before the draft, which only complicated matters.

"I feel like, again, I don't know the answer for why I was in the predicament that I was, and no one's gonna admit if that was the case," Cloud said when asked directly if she had received any feedback that her activism factored into her lack of options in free agency. "I'm sure there are certain organizations where, yeah, I'm not the player for you. I will say what I feel in my heart when it comes to my morals and values. I'm a Christian and that's what I stand on, and I won't be shied away from it. It does take a certain organization.

"Y'all can villainize me all you want, but I just want love and peace and I want people to be able to live a dignified life no matter where they come from," Cloud continued.

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On May 4, Cloud signed a one-year deal with the Sky worth a reported $500,000.

The Sky, who have not made the playoffs since 2023, went 23-61 over Pagliocca's first two seasons in charge and finished tied for last place in 2025. Pagliocca is desperate to get the organization back to the postseason -- in part because they owe the Washington Mystics a 2027 first-round pick swap -- and overhauled the roster in the offseason.

Together with coach Tyler Marsh, he put forth a new vision for Sky basketball based on "toughness and grit," and players they knew were "gonna fight at all times," Pagliocca said at the team's media day last month. "We wanted to make sure that the team was much more competitive than it has been."

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Cloud, one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, fits right into that mold. Through three games, Cloud is averaging 8.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists on a career-high 45.8% shooting in 24.3 minutes, and has enjoyed a "seamless" transition to the organization.

"From the moment I was here, I just felt welcomed. I felt valued, I felt wanted, I felt needed," Cloud said. "That just made the whole transition of me coming in seamless. Everyone's ability to help me learn the plays on the fly, whether it's our halfcourt offense, defensive principles, schemes, verbage, everyone was just super helpful in everything that I needed."

The 3-1 Sky are off to their best start since 2023, and tied for second place with the Liberty, but will be without Rickea Jackson for the remainder of the season after she tore her ACL in their win over the Minnesota Lynx . In order to stay at the top of the standings and get back to the postseason, the Sky will need to rely on their toughness and defense, and that starts with Cloud.

"We have dogs in here," Cloud said. "Everyone just comes in and plays hard, and I think that's our identity now. When you come to Chicago, it's gonna be a dogfight every single night and you're really gonna have to work to compete with us."

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_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/natasha-cloud-sky-free-agency-activism/)._