Connecticut Sun trade Natasha Cloud to New York Liberty for two first-round picks in latest veteran departure

While most of the women’s basketball world was watching the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday night, the Connecticut Sun quietly announced that they were trading Natasha Cloud to the New York Liberty less than two months after acquiring the veteran point guard in a trade with the Phoenix Mercury.

In exchange for Cloud, the Sun received the No. 7 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft plus the Liberty’s first-round pick in 2026. Connecticut now has back-to-back picks at No. 7 and 8 in the first round of this year’s draft plus the No. 25 pick to end the second round.

The Sun sent franchise superstar Alyssa Thomas to the Mercury along with starting point guard Tyasha Harris to acquire Cloud plus forward Rebecca Allen and the No. 12 pick on Jan. 28, but none of those assets are still in Connecticut’s possession. The Sun sent Allen to the Chicago Sky in exchange for veteran point guard Lindsay Allen, and the Dallas Wings got the No. 12 pick as part of a massive four-team deal with the Sun, Mercury and Indiana Fever that sent 2024 first-round pick Jacy Sheldon to Connecticut.

Cloud is a three-time All-Defensive Team selection and won a WNBA championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019, so while her addition made some sense for Connecticut, it became apparent quickly that the veteran guard was blindsided — and unenthusiastic —about the trade. Cloud signed with Phoenix as a free agent in 2024 and said on an episode of The OGs podcast last week that members of the organization promised her she could finish her career in a Mercury jersey.

“Don’t just send me anywhere. Allow me to rout myself where I want to go,” Cloud said on the podcast. “I was like man, you told me I was your point guard. Y’all the same (expletives) that looked me in the eye after I had 33 (points) in that playoff game for y’all and almost got us to a Game 3 and you said, ‘You’re gonna retire a Phoenix Mercury … That’s what I’m upset about. The trade is business, I understand that, but y’all owed me more for what I gave to the organization.”

Cloud, 33, cited her age and nine years of WNBA experience experience in an interview on the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast as a major reason she was concerned about playing for the Sun. Connecticut is one of the only teams in the league without a professional-caliber practice facility or any formal plan to build one, and Cloud arrived in Phoenix the same season the Mercury unveiled their $100 million investment in a brand-new 58,000 square-foot facility. The Liberty share the facility at Barclays Center with the NBA’s New York Nets.

“It’s nice to be valued by an organization in Connecticut as much as they valued me within this trade, but I will say at 33, I just need certain things from my career,” Cloud said on Feb. 28. “I’m going into my 10th year in the W, and I’ve got to protect the way that I provide for my family. I’ve got to protect the way that I go about making sure that I’ve got longevity to my career. I’m just handling it the best that I can right now, handling it as a professional and respecting both organizations as best I can.”

Cloud is just the latest veteran in a mass exodus from Connecticut this offseason as the league braces for the impacts of a new collective bargaining agreement with three more expansion teams on the way. After Thomas was cored and traded, All-Stars DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones both signed with other teams in unrestricted free agency, and the Sun then traded 2024 Most Improved Player DiJonai Carrington to the Dallas Wings as a restricted free agent. Veteran guard Marina Mabrey also tried to force her way out of Connecticut by requesting a trade after she was traded to the Sun in July 2024, but the team denied the request in a public back-and-forth with Mabrey’s agent.

Almost every WNBA veteran is set to hit free agency after the 2025 season, so the Sun are doing what they can to get returns on the players they would likely lose in the near future anyway. But without Cloud, Connecticut has just four players with more than five years of WNBA experience, and half of the training camp roster will have never played a game in the league. The Sun signed a major free agent in former league MVP Tina Charles, who has more experience playing for Connecticut than anyone else on the team even though she hasn’t been with the franchise since 2013. The team also picked up All-Star guard Diamond DeShields in free agency.

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