Natasha Cloud is one of the more well-known players in the WNBA.<\/p>\n
Since coming into the league, the defense-first guard has developed a loyal following by melding an admirable, hard-nosed style on the court with open, personal messaging online and in the media. Often, Cloud has connected with fans of the WNBA, a league that attracts younger, more progressive followers, by taking strong political stances.<\/p>\n
Cloud has been outspoken about gun violence and racial justice, and even campaigned with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani last year. And, during Israel\u2019s latest strikes, Cloud has been a vocal advocate for Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Throughout that time, Cloud has been a fixture of successful teams across the WNBA, winning a championship in 2019 before locking down the perimeter for playoff teams in Phoenix and New York over the past two seasons. But after starting 41 of 44 games for the Liberty last year, and despite the salary cap windfall created by the league\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement, the 34-year-old Cloud remains unsigned with less than two weeks to go until Opening Night.<\/p>\n
The questions around the lack of a market for Cloud quickly fed into a churn of theories from online content creators and influencers, some of whom expressly told their audiences that the WNBA was conspiring against Cloud because of her political activism.<\/p>\n
A video captioned \u201cNatasha Cloud is being blackballed by the WNBA for being pro Palestine<\/a>,\u201d posted by popular creator and\u00a0Hoops for Hotties host Mariah Rose, collected more than 350,000 views across Instagram and TikTok. Dozens of YouTube videos<\/a>, some coming from creators who sympathize with Cloud and others who clearly want to see her face consequences, almost universally come from the perspective that she is being punished. At The Nation, even longtime columnist Dave Zirin openly speculated that Cloud might be \u201cgetting Kapped<\/a>,\u201d in reference to the NFL\u2019s conspiracy against Colin Kaepernick a decade ago.<\/p>\n Yet the WNBA is not running away from the Cloud story. Instead, multiple reports citing both on- and off-the-record league figures seem to explain why Cloud remains a free agent.<\/p>\n Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb went out of his way to address the situation with Cloud at a press conference over the weekend, telling reporters \u201cthere\u2019s a lot out there that I\u2019d just like to dispel.\u201d<\/p>\n Kolb then praised Cloud as a player and person before explaining that New York moved on from her because of salary cap constraints as it brought in two younger free agent forwards in her place.<\/p>\n \u201cShe belongs in the WNBA,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Reports from The Athletic<\/a> and The IX Sports<\/a> also revealed that Cloud hired new agents twice in the past month.<\/p>\n But just as fans were beginning to get some clarity into Cloud\u2019s status, her partner once again created confusion. In a reply to an aggregator account citing The Athletic\u2019s reporting that multiple teams had shown interest in Cloud during free agency, center Isabelle Harrison, who was publicly dating Cloud as of last year<\/a>, wrote \u201cthis isn\u2019t true<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n