Liberty Star Natasha Cloud Wins WNBA All-Star Skills Challenge
The Friday forecast in Indianapolis is officially Cloudy with a chance of a payday thanks to a New York Liberty star.
Natasha Cloud got WNBA All-Star Friday started on a high note for the Liberty, prevailing in the Skills Challenge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. She swept both rounds of the competition, barely beating out former local star Erica Wheeler (Seattle) by just over a second.
Cloudy with a chance of money!
— Geoff Magliocchetti (@GeoffJMags) July 19, 2025
Tash Cloud is your 2025 #WNBA Skills Challenge champion #WNBA #LightItUpNYL pic.twitter.com/NWPW3esw5d
Upon her victory, Cloud was warmly greeted by Wheeler, a former Indiana Fever star who took her defeat graciously. Liberty teammate and 2022 Skills Challenge champion Sabrina Ionescu and another New Yorker in Isabelle Harrison were also on hand to hug Cloud, a first-year Brooklynite that has quickly left a sizable impact on her new adoring public.
In her post-event interview with Holly Rowe of ESPN, Cloud said that she plans to spend the prize money on a down payment on a house for her and her girlfriend Harrison.
"It's been a blessing for our careers to collide in New York, for us to both be feeling comfortable and safe in the New York organization that's just top-tier through and through," Cloud told Rowe. "But this is for our family. [Harrison] over here told me, I better win today for a down payment on a house, so, baby' you're going to get that house!"
The Skills Challenge tested players' prowess in bounce and chest passes, as well as shots in the corner, at the elbow, at the top of the key, and through a driving layup. Cloud's confidence was evident from the get-go, as she was inching away from the shooting racks even before her attempts fell. Cloud swept both stages of the event, taking round one with a time of 34.1 seconds before going 36.4 in the latter tally.
With the win, the Liberty become the third team in Skills Challenge history to have multiple women prevail in the event, joining the Las Vegas Aces (Becky Hammon and Sophia Young in their San Antonio Silver Stars incarnation) and the Minnesota Lynx (Seimone Augustus and Charde Houston). Ionescu, who is set to compete in the 3-Point Contest later on Friday, previously prevailed in the 2022 event in Chicago.
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.