After a few years of chasing the big one, the New York Liberty finally broke through in 2024, winning the WNBA championship for the first time in franchise history by defeating the Minnesota Lynx in a hard-fought five-game series. The Liberty have assembled such a deep roster, with Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart being the biggest stars on a stacked team. And the rich get even richer, as the Liberty pulled off a trade for former assists leader Natasha Cloud on Sunday.
The Liberty had to give up two first-round picks for Cloud, including the seventh overall pick of this year’s draft, but bringing in another player of her caliber is surely going to boost their odds of repeating as champion in 2025. And it looks like Ionescu is already taking notice of this major addition, reacting to this blockbuster trade on her official Instagram story.
Sabrina Ionescu greets Natasha Cloud on IG after huge Liberty trade pic.twitter.com/dYpxaGTSqu
— Don March (@ItsAlwaysMarch) March 17, 2025
This was the second trade of the offseason involving Cloud, as she was first moved to the Connecticut Sun over a month ago in the blockbuster four-team trade that sent Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally to the Phoenix Mercury, DiJonai Carrington to the Dallas Wings, and Sophie Cunningham to the Indiana Fever.
The Sun have clearly decided that their core in 2024 had run its course and that a complete rebuild was in order, and Cloud, who is 33 years old, had no intentions of playing for a rebuilding team. And Connecticut obliged, getting two first-rounders for their troubles.
Cloud should settle in without much problem with the Liberty; with New York losing playmaking guard Courtney Vandersloot in free agency, Cloud steps in as the team’s new primary ballhandler and playmaker, shifting Ionescu to a more scoring-oriented role at the two.
Natasha Cloud helps Liberty’s push to repeat as champion
Natasha Cloud’s game primarily focuses on impacting the game beyond the box score; her leadership and defense provides so many winning intangibles to any team, as evidenced by the huge role she played for the Washington Mystics in their title-winning 2019 campaign.
Last season, Cloud averaged 11.5 points, 6.9 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, and she’s going to slot in as the perfect complement to Ionescu in the Liberty backcourt. Cloud is a warrior and a proven competitor who elevates her game at the grandest of stages, making her quite the pickup for a team with grand ambitions in 2025.
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