Trading for Natasha Cloud gives the New York Liberty depth in quest for second straight title

Following six weeks of chaos with Cloud being traded to the Connecticut Sun so that the Phoenix Mercury could acquire Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, Cloud will join a team that has very clear sights on repeating as back-to-back champions and establishing themselves as a WNBA dynasty. 

“Tash will undoubtedly strengthen our roster on both sides of the ball as we pursue another title in 2025,” Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb said in the team’s press release. 

The move signals that the Liberty are willing to give up multiple team controlled assets to go all in on the 2025 season even with a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon that will see most of the league testing free agency. Similar to the recent trade between the Chicago Sky and the Washington Mystics that sent Ariel Atkins to Sky for the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft, and swap rights to its first-round pick in the 2027 draft, this wasn’t a simple one-for-one trade.

The Liberty have been known to value first round draft picks, but they’ve traded them when they’ve not liked the players available at their drafting position. New York didn’t love the top of the 2021 Draft, one of the weakest drafts in recent memory, and so they parlayed that into Natasha Howard and Sami Whitcomb. 

In 2025, New York trading their 7th overall pick is a function of the Liberty not having a chance at a player in the 2025 class that they were very interested in. A league source told The Next that the Liberty were very interested in trying to draft Sonia Citron, a two-way combo wing who has the potential to contribute to a championship contender right now. Imagine the skill set of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton but less muscular and a little longer. 

Add Locked On Women’s Basketball to your daily routine

Here at The Next, in addition to the 24/7/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.

But after the Mystics proved they could bargain to their advantage in the trade with Chicago, there wasn’t a path for New York to be able to draft Citron without giving up a lot of value to get her. Cloud is a two-way facilitator who can contribute right now, while other prospects that New York could draft at 7th overall most likely could not. 

The Liberty still have signings to make. A league source told The Next that part of the delay in signing both Breanna Stewart and Marine Johannés officially to contracts was because of the desire to determine if the Liberty were going to add Cloud’s 2025 $200,000 salary to their books. And now that the Liberty have, expect New York to sign both Stewart and Johannés officially this week. 

Trading for Cloud also signals a change of approach following the departure of Courtney Vandersloot. After falling to the Las Vegas Aces in the 2023 WNBA Finals, Kolb expressed that improvements to the perimeter defense wouldn’t come in the starting unit. He believed making adjustments to the Liberty’s bench would be sufficient. 

But following a 2024 championship season when the Liberty’s coaching staff and front office realized how much having Ionescu surrounded by plus defenders improved the team’s versatility and their performance, having a two-way backcourt partner for Ionescu became a necessity. 

Last season head coach Sandy Brondello transitioned Laney-Hamilton’s role from a creator with 3-and-D tendencies into more of a secondary creator with the ball in her hands. But injuries throughout the season and into the playoffs prevented this from coming to complete fruition. And now with Laney-Hamilton having to leave 3×3 league Unrivaled where she was a relief player with yet another injury, adding Cloud patches up the hole that Laney-Hamilton leaves defensively if she misses extended time. Johannés fills the offensive void and has done so in the past. 

A Full Circle Moment for Cloud, Ionescu and the Liberty

Over two months ago, Cloud and Ionescu spoke to a scrum of media members about how their individual teams at the current time were in a race to land Sabally, one of the top free agents in the 2025 free agency class and their teammate on Phantom Basketball Club as part of Unrivaled. 

“We both are,” Cloud quipped about recruiting Sabally. “Don’t just say Sabrina. You’ve got your nice little ring okay.” It was a moment of levity between the two players who didn’t really know each other that well, but were beginning to. 

Cloud and Ionescu had previously gone up against each other in a highly contested first round playoff series in 2023 against the Mystics. Cloud, who has been known as of late to perform at higher levels during the postseason, took her matchup against Ionescu quite personally. While the Liberty advanced to the second round after defeating Washington in two straight games, Liberty fans were compelled by how hard Cloud played. She appreciated their energy in return, although most of them were cheering against her.   

“Me outside out there was just feeling all the love from your fans, so I really appreciate that Liberty fans,” Cloud said following Game 2 of that 2023 first-round series. “It was a great environment to play in. This is the things that we’ve dreamed of since the time that we were kids. To feel that love coming off the court, it just was like a reiteration to me that I really did leave everything I could on the floor…New York is very similar to Philly. We love hard workers. We love gritty ass players so I really did appreciate it so thank y’all.”

Flashing forward to 2025, Unrivaled created an environment where players could get to know each other on a much more personal level, and the bond between Ionescu and Cloud clearly strengthened in the locker room and in the training room while playing for Phantom BC. 

Fans caught onto how much they enjoyed spending time together and had a genuine appreciation for one another. The on-court chemistry at Unrivaled came alive on Cloud’s birthday when she hit a wide open game winning three off a no-look pass from Ionescu who grabbed the rebound of her own miss. 

Ionescu has played a critical role in some of New York’s player personnel related decisions. Her blessing matters. And based on Ioenscu’s punny reaction to the Liberty announcing the trade on social media, she definitely gave Kolb and Brondello her blessing. 

Questions this trade raises

Cloud has been very open about how she has felt betrayed by two WNBA franchises. She implied that the Washington Mystics didn’t want her to return after 2023, and she was unceremoniously traded from Phoenix to the Connecticut Sun, a franchise that lacks professional player amenities. 

And while the Liberty boast having an ownership group that takes care of its players and values the player experience in ways other WNBA franchises do not, the New York Liberty way has been about collective sacrifice. 

Vandersloot explained that not returning to the Liberty was about her making “a personal” choice and that there was a decision between both parties that it was time to move on. “I was looking for something that they couldn’t give me,” she said.   

So what can the Liberty give Cloud? For starters her girlfriend Isabelle Harrison signed with the team on a veteran minimum contract, she’ll have access to the largest media market in the world, and have a chance to play in front of close to sold out crowds every night for a franchise trying to win back-to-back championships. 

The Next, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom

The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

But all of those perks come with a cost, and for New York it’s buying in and making decisions that benefit the team rather than one individual player. Cloud has also spoken very openly about how she believes to be one of the league’s top point guards and that she deserves more respect than she gets. 

“But for me personally it’s always to be the best version of myself,” Cloud said on the podcast The OGs. “I want to be a top point guard in the league every single year. I want to continue to get better offensively, I want to continue to become a more offensive threat within the organization that I’m a part of.”

The Liberty don’t really need her to become a more potent offensive threat, although they will welcome offensive efficiency. How will Cloud buy in playing a role where she won’t get over 10 shots a game like she averaged in Phoenix? But if there is a coach who has mastered how to get players to buy into the collective rather than more self-oriented aspirations, that person is Liberty head coach Brondello.