So, Natasha Cloud obviously is out of the WNBA right now in what is a bit of a weird decision. And shout out in general to Jonathan Cobb, the Liberty GM, for clearing the air and making sure that the Natasha Cloud is blackballed narrative and that they didn’t sign her because of the political stuff is over with. It is over with.
Thank God.
So Natasha Cloud, Jonathan Cobb basically came out and said some hilarious things where basically I think he said she puts her life on the line every day, which is a very crazy way to put it, but okay, it is what it is. Basically came out saying she’s a phenomenal teammate, she’s an awesome human being, one of the things I’m most proud of is my relationship with Natasha, and what she stands for, stands up for what she believes in.
We are fortunate and incredibly lucky to have had her for a season. We do not get off to the nine start without her. Like I said earlier, the buffer was really important for seeding. They were the fifth seed. They were like five games above the sixth seed if I’m not mistaken. They weren’t even close to being sixth.
We don’t win game one against Phoenix last year. In fairness, it’s not wrong.
I want to make clear what happened for us here. It’s about targets, free agency, and the condensed nature of how quickly things move. But also we felt, probably took a while too because you’re in the dark on these things realistically, they wanted to sign too sadly and they couldn’t justify this.
Do you want to know why you don’t see Natasha Cloud’s name right here? Let’s bring this down. Let’s scroll up because she was off the screen. You have to clear cookies to reach Natasha Cloud’s net points. She was a minus 20 on the season on offense for them and she was a minus 11 on the defensive end. To start the year she was really, really good and I don’t think people remembered that Natasha Cloud really, really was not good towards the end of the year.
Played very well in game one against Phoenix, played very poorly in game two and three, and the New York Liberty were never going to keep her. They made that very clear in October and it did seem in general when it came down to it that they were never going to sign her and she was Liberty or bust.
She was New York or bust. She only really wanted to play in New York and then left it way too late by the looks of things to make any sort of a move that wasn’t New York. And that kind of screwed her.
And the fact that she changed representation means she probably didn’t get offers she liked either.
I would say that there are currently 14 WNBA teams offering her a minimum contract. I’d be shocked if there are not 14 teams offering a minimum. Heck, I would be shocked if there’s not 15, including the Liberty. I think the Liberty would offer a minimum.
I genuinely do think that there are probably 15 WNBA teams offering her a minimum contract.
It does seem though like she is one of these players that wants a certain amount of money and is probably like, look, I’m going to get that during the season with X, Y, or Z team.
And the one thing with Natasha Cloud, she’s probably being advised don’t take a minimum contract because you’re stuck to that.
But let’s just say hypothetically, Skylar Diggins gets injured for the season and the Sky free up her prorated near max salary. If Courtney Williams gets injured for the season, her prorated max salary frees up for a player like Natasha Cloud.
Which is why there are a couple of vets that are not bad at basketball currently not in the league because they’re probably waiting for maybe a potential injury somewhere and a prorated salary to come in.
A max salary player gets ruled out for the season and there’s a prorated max salary available which is a lot more in the middle.
That is my prediction for what’s going on with Natasha Cloud because I think when Natasha Cloud signs for a team it won’t be now. It won’t be anytime soon.
It’ll be off an injury and we will see the contracts and it will be for significantly more than the minimum.
And I’m just glad Jonathan Cobb kind of nipped it in the bud right away that the “oh she’s actually being blackballed out of the league” narrative is nonsense.
Could that have something to do with why some teams don’t want to sign her? Maybe. But it’s nothing to do with what she’s saying. It’s the fact that there are probably teams that believe that she’s not worth the hassle.
Which is perfectly fine.
By the way, as a team, you are allowed to say a player is just not worth the hassle. They’re not good enough to be worth the hassle. And you’re allowed to say that as a team.
Just because the WNBA as a collective doesn’t want that to be the case where you’re not allowed to say it, yes you are.
Teams deemed Kennedy Carter not worth the hassle.
And then I’m going to be honest, the Aces did think she was worth the hassle this year. It is what it is.
Natasha Cloud is probably waiting for a player to go down or seeing how certain players’ injuries actually are.
These are players that have probably signed deals and maybe they’re done. Like Fee is obviously coming back, but season-ending injuries happen all the time.
She played with Benny Hampton. She got hurt in Unrivaled.
I don’t think there is anyone that got hurt that has a prorated decent salary for her coming in, but that’s my guess.
At the end of the day, there’s no way she is not in the WNBA for any reason other than choice.
And you saying “oh no team wants to sign her,” at the same time, I think teams want to sign her but not for an amount of money she’s comfortable with.
So that’s where the question comes where it’s like, is she worth the hassle?
And to these teams it’s probably no.
At some stage she will be because again, a prorated maximum becomes available because a max contract player gets injured for the season and you have max money.
If you’re trying to win, the best player that’s currently a free agent and available is Natasha Cloud. She might help you win.
She might get a prorated version of a max.
So overall, it makes a lot of sense what it appears from my perspective that Cloud is doing.
And I’m glad that Jonathan Cobb came out and basically said, yeah, we liked her. It’s nothing to do with that. We just made a basketball decision.
Because all the BS, there were people demanding the GM answer for why they didn’t sign Natasha.
A GM should not have to say this player was statistically the worst player on her team last year and she was looking for a max contract.
So we didn’t have that money and the money she was willing to play for we gave to a player who made the All-WNBA First Team two years ago and was an All-Star starter last year in Satou Sabally.
So yeah, that is pretty much it. An interesting situation all around.
And shout out to Jonathan Cobb for stopping all this BS.
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