Natasha Cloud, Chicago Sky might be perfect fit after all

CHICAGO -- Natasha Cloud was in tears on the phone. A chaotic offseason that included contentious and prolonged collective bargaining between the WNBA and its players resolved abruptly and had given way to a shortened offseason. After the new CBA was agreed upon March 20, the free agency negotiation period began just over two weeks later and the collegiate draft was held seven days after that.

Excitement turned to worry, which led to serious concern. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Shortly before the negotiation period opened, Cloud parted ways with her agent due to different perspectives. And the start of what Cloud described as the "hunger games" loomed -- with nearly every player not on a rookie deal a free agent with millions in new money available.

But the market wasn't exactly what the 34-year-old expected for a former WNBA champion, a player who once led the league in assists and a three-time all-defensive selection who had started every game she played since 2018. Training camp opened and Cloud was still unsigned. In the midst of it all, former WNBA teammateIzzy Harrisonconnected Cloud with her agent, Fabio Jardine. And the tears streamed.

Everything bubbled to the surface in that moment as self-doubt overflowed for someone who never seems to lack confidence.

"There was a point where I had my breakdown, my little moment," Cloud told ESPN. "Yeah, I didn't know if I was going to play in the W again.

"It shakes your confidence for a little bit."

Finally, two weeks into training camp, Cloud landed with the Chicago Sky, starting over with her fourth team in as many seasons. After being traded from the Phoenix Mercury and getting just one season with the New York Liberty, her opportunities to win another title are declining, but Cloud found an unexpected companion in Year 11. The Sky and general manager Jeff Pagliocca were looking to overhaul the roster, including trading away two-time all-star Angel Reese, but had no interest in starting from scratch. Despite having not posted a winning record since 2022, Pagliocca hoped to compete immediately.

Circumstances brought the two parties together in a time of need for both.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER loss for the Sky. Chicago had just dropped its fifth straight game in what would be a 1-11 stretch, and Cloud lost her cool. A couple of support beams holding up curtains in a cordoned off area took the brunt of her fury as she kicked one piece and ripped another off its base.

The Sky, who are 7-14 and currently slot as a lottery team, opened the season with four new starters and nine newcomers, not including the organization's all-time leading scorer, Courtney Vandersloot, who was still recovering from ACL surgery at the time. This wasn't a rebuild with youngsters still getting used to life in the league. That's not how general manager Jeff Pagliocca wants to operate. As long as he's at the helm, there are no plans for a multi-year rebuild.

So he traded for Rickea Jackson, the No. 4 pick in the 2024 draft, and Jacy Sheldon. Skylar Diggins, DiJonai Carrington, Azura Stevens and Cloud were all signed as free agents. Even after trading away two-time WNBA All-Star Angel Reese for a pair of first-round picks, these moves were made with postseason expectations in mind.

And early on, there was optimism. The Sky opened the season 3-1 and Jackson looked like the Most Improved Player front-runner. But everything changed when she was lost for the season with a torn ACL in the fourth game.

"It was a gut punch," Pagliocca told ESPN. "There's no predicting a possibly generational player going down."

Trying to build chemistry with so many new pieces was always going to be a challenge, and that's before having limited practice time with everyone available as injuries have been a major issue in Chicago all summer. Stevens, Vandersloot and Carrington were all out to start the season, and Carrington still hasn't returned. Rookie Gabriela Jaquez, who has started all but two games she's played, missed four games with a knee injury.

Outside of the injuries, there's been movement within the roster as coach Tyler Marsh tries to find the right combinations. Cloud came off the bench her first two games, started six in a row and then was moved back to a reserve role. Rookie Sydney Taylor began the season on the bench but has started eight straight games.

Through it all, the Sky rank No. 9 in points per game (86.2) and No. 11 in points allowed per game (88.8).

The biggest shake-up of the season came this week when Diggins took to social media Monday to proclaim that she'd been benched.

"The crazy part about it all is that I've been so quiet," Diggins said on the video. "I've been so good and quiet."

This is what generated curiosity about how the roster was put together at the end of training camp. Diggins is known to have a fiery personality, and doesn't mince words. She's at the point in her career where it's all about winning her first championship. How would it work with a team that has gone through three head coaches in four years and hasn't been in the playoffs since 2023? Pagliocca even said before the season began that he wouldn't want to have to deal with Diggins if she doesn't have a competitive roster around her.

Diggins believed in the plan, but the losses have piled up. She lamented the team's "loser mentality" in early June and directed questions to Marsh in regard to offensive struggles. She didn't come off the bench Tuesday, missing the game with a right knee injury.

Marsh said he's looking to find a rhythm and a move seemed necessary. He added that you never know if the timing is right for a drastic move until you actually make the adjustment.

"Frustrations always are going to come to a boiling point when you're not winning games," Marsh said. "We're all aligned from that standpoint, in terms of being frustrated with where we are record-wise and feeling like we're better than what the record has shown."

That early optimism has been renewed after winning three of the last five, including a record-breaking 124-point performance against the Portland Fire on June 26. There's a hope that the team is close, with eight losses by eight points or less. Two of those were by one point and another came in overtime. Vandersloot started Tuesday, Stevens has begun to look like her normal self and Taylor is the fourth-highest scoring rookie in the league.

"As frustrated as I've been," Pagliocca said, "I also know that we've got a lot of great players here and we have all that we need."

BUT BACK IN March, days slid by with news of one signing after another. Teams began to make qualifying offers and core designations April 6, and the free agency negotiation period began April 8. Decisions had to be made quickly.

How could someone with Cloud's accolades go unsigned for so long when there was more money available than ever? The answer is complicated.

Cloud has said she found out late in the process that she wouldn't be brought back to New York, but general manager Jonathan Kolb had a different perspective. He said it wasn't about fit, but more about certain targets in free agency and the condensed nature of the period. The Liberty retained their big three of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu and added three-time all-star Satou Sabally on a two-year, $1.67 million deal.

One of the reasons Cloud said she parted ways with former agent Erin Kane was the lack of certain marketing opportunities. Did her activism have an influence on how companies viewed a potential partnership? One thing Cloud has never been shy about is speaking up for causes that she's passionate about, from gun violence to LBGTQ+ rights to support for Palestine. That outspokenness and fearlessness is part of her personality that makes her a fan favorite in every city. But that also, at times, has caused strife within an organization. Some wondered if that affected Cloud's standing in free agency, but multiple sources didn't believe that was the case.

"There's a lot out there right now that I would just like to dispel," Kolb said before the season. "When it comes to Tash, she's a phenomenal teammate. She's awesome. She's an awesome human being. She's a phenomenal basketball player. She belongs in the WNBA.

"We were really fortunate and incredibly lucky to have Natasha Cloud on this team last year."

There's no singular reason free agency played out in the way that it did. Certain players of stature held up the market as teams waited to see where the dominoes would fall. In a shortened time period, timing had an outsized influence. Financial offerings and opportunity didn't always line up.

"Everybody was lost, from GMs to agents and to players because everything was new, and everything was super late," said Jardine, who said 3-4 teams had serious interest in Cloud. "It was much more about who has the money and who has this spot for her.

"She doesn't have any problems in the market, it was much more about who could make room for her and who could offer the money."

DESPITE THE LOSSES, and despite the pun, the Sky seem to be the place for Cloud. She quickly became a vocal leader and her 43.8 shooting percentage is a career high. Her 4.2 assists per game rank No. 2 on the roster despite being a career low since 2017 -- the last season Cloud wasn't a starter. She has the ninth-most assists in WNBA history.

Pagliocca and Cloud had several conversations before she signed, as both sides wanted everyone on the same page. Pagliocca wanted to get to know her as a person and understand her approach to activism. The intense personality that might scare off some was a positive for the third-year GM. That same thinking played a role in going after Diggins.

"It was important to me in our initial meetings that (Cloud) understood that we didn't want her to come in and change who she was," Pagliocca. "She's built for what she creates."

Still, the Sky already had Diggins and Vandersloot and their 12 combined all-star selections. Diggins signed a two-year deal for $1.86 million and Vandersloot signed for two years at $1.5 million. Cloud reached a one-year agreement for $555,000.

That trio seemed like a logjam then and Marsh is still tinkering with that rotation 21 games into a 44-game season. The thought was Cloud's versatility as a big guard who can play on the wing at times and defend four positions would alleviate some of those issues.

"They all bring something different to the table, they all bring a different skill set," Marsh said. "It's just about mixing and matching and finding chemistry in the lineups or where they work together best and most efficient."

Even though Cloud is used to being a starter, she embraced the role change of coming off the bench. She's also tried to be a source of support for younger players on the roster like Kamilla Cardoso, Aicha Coulibaly and Jaquez. Cloud sat next to Coulibaly for postgame interviews after the rookie scored a career high against Portland and continuously added words of support like a proud older sister. At the end, she reminded Coulibaly to take a copy of the box score.

"Tash is the best!" Coulibaly exclaimed as the pair left the dais.

"She's been important for me," Cardoso said. "Sometimes I have a lack of confidence in myself. Since Day 1, I think I'd never spoke to her before our first practice together, and she's always pouring into me. She's always telling me how great I am and that can't nobody mess with me."

Cloud, who spent the first eight years of her WNBA career with the Washington Mystics, has tried to put the offseason behind her, but there is still some uncertainty about the future. She'll be a free agent again after the season and this is her fourth team in four years. Technically, five but she never played a game with the Connecticut Sun after being traded from Phoenix. The Sun moved her to the Liberty before the 2025 season began.

The movement, however, hasn't discouraged Cloud -- although there were those tearful moments and periods of self-doubt. This was a different experience, she explained, dealing with the aftermath of having her confidence shaken. For someone that built a career on surpassing expectations as a second-round pick out of Saint Joseph's, self-confidence was never an issue. Still, Cloud found herself leaning on her faith when things weren't falling into place.

"Over the last two years, especially, I'm nobody's scapegoat," Cloud said. "I know what I bring to the table. ... It's not about proving s--- to anyone else anymore. I come out here and I play for my family and my teammates.

"A lot of what I felt was like disrespect, too. Doesn't mean that it didn't affect me as a human or even as a basketball player. ... I'm not everyone's cup of tea, I know that."br/]