Liberty Player Preview 2025: Natasha Cloud
The trophy is stored, the confetti is cleared, the rings have been sized, and the banner will be raised. Now comes the question: what can the New York Liberty possibly do for an encore?
The Liberty's roster is set for its first postseason championship defense, which gets underway this week as the WNBA prepares to tip off its 29th season. Fresh the famous five-game win over the Minnesota Lynx in last fall's Finals, the Liberty now seek to bring another parade to Manhattan and Brooklyn after ending the long wait for the original.
With the season quickly approaching, New York Liberty on SI will go through each player's 2025 outlook on a case-by-case basis.
Player: Natasha Cloud
Height/Position: 5-9, Guard
From: St Joseph's
Experience: 10th season (1st with Liberty)
2024 Stats: 11.5 points, 6.9 assists, 1.4 steals
How Acquired: 2025 trade with Connecticut
Cloud was not part of the original, long-simmering plan Liberty management developed upon its 2019 takeover but her inclusion made more sense with each passing season.
Calls for Cloud to don seafoam reached a deafening pitch this past offseason after she collaborated with homegrown franchise face Sabrina Ionescu on Phantom BC, one of the Unrivaled teams in Breanna Stewart's domestic offseason league. A memorable backcourt battle with Ionescu in the opening round of the 2023 playoffs as a member of the Washington Mystics, one that ended with Cloud earning a rare standing ovation from an almost-eternally partisan Brooklyn crowd, likewise warmed New York to the idea.
All that and more was enough to convince the Liberty to sit out of the first round of both this draft and the next, and Cloud was acquired from the rebuilding Connecticut Sun, who previously obtained her in a multi-pronged deal that also involved DiJonai Carrings, Sophie Cunningham, Satou Sabally, and Alyssa Thomas.
Cloud spend last season with the Phoenix Mercury after eight seasons in the nation's capital. That tenure included the franchise's championship run in 2019, which also featured the first of three All-Defensive team nominations. She also led the league in assists in 2022, barely besting Ionescu in both the total and per game categories. Cloud has averaged no worse than 11 points and six assists over the last three seasons and has been known to particularly raise the intensity during the postseason, notably averaging a double-double during Phoenix's brief visit last time around.
They Said It
"I think Tash is a leader. She leads not only by example, but with her voice. Tash is a giver. She's a true connector. When you look at all of those qualities, and you look at our current roster, Tash amplifies what we already have. I think we all know the fan base will love her, and she'll love the fan base, but I think Tash is going to be incredibly important for us to get to where we want to be this year, and we're excited that she's with us."-Jonathan Kolb
"That 2019 DC team, we had so many weapons. We were versatile. We had the best bench in the league. We were so deep. I think there's same thing here with the Liberty, I would say the slightest difference is, though ... It doesn't matter, no matter what names we have on the roster, we're going to play the right way of basketball. The ball is always going to find the right person, and that's a really refreshing way to play. That was kind of what we did in 2019 when we won."-Cloud comparing the 2025 Liberty to the 2019 Mystics
2025 Outlook
Cloud's chemistry with Ionescu, well-established on Unrivaled's South Floridian courts, will help the Liberty overcome potential compatibility awkwardness that has defined the last early portions of the last two Liberty seasons. That's even less of a problem considering Cloud's fleeting but no doubt lingering respect for the organization, as the rapport between the guard and the franchise's culture has been well established before even her first seafoam minutes.
Known for her voice both on and off the floor, Cloud is the de facto quarterback of this group, the director and stabilizing force made to enhance the headliners' talents. Everyone know that Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, and Breanna Stewart are cable of breaking loose without warning. Cloud is the type of player that can break out their best on a nightly basis.
Defensively, Cloud's prowess speaks for itself but her long reach should help New York any of its lingering problems, such as its propensity to let teams emerge in the fastbreak. New York lost a fair amount of secondary firepower in the offseason but Cloud's multi-faceted skillset makes up for a good amount of the holes created.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.