Former Phoenix Mercury player Natasha Cloud, now with the Chicago Sky, is known within the WNBA community for being outspoken about social justice and critical of WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert's leadership.
On Wednesday, the veteran guard decried how it's become "normal" for her to be subjected to angry sports bettors' racial epithets, death threats and other forms of hate speech.
“I’m called a (expletive), I’m called a (expletive), I’m called everything under the sun," Cloud said to Front Office Sports. "I’ve been told that they hope that our plane crashes on the way home."
Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud (9) against the Phoenix Mercury at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix on July 7.
Cloud played for Phoenix in 2024, before she was traded to Connecticut for Alyssa Thomas the following offseason. She added that it's usually men directing "distasteful" and "delusional" behavior toward her, "if you don't make somebody money."
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She urged Engelbert to be more vocal against the harassment from bettors and improve the league's public relations.
“I think as one of the main faces of our league, too, it creates a dialogue that needs to be had. It puts pressure on Cathy, who we’ve been begging to step up for us in these spaces,” Cloud said.
She also admonished NBA commissioner Adam Silver to show support for the WNBA players against this mistreatment.
“We got NBA players being followed out in public because of not hitting parlays,” Cloud said. “I get that it’s really great for our league. It’s great for the business that is the NBA and the WNBA, and it helps expand. But at the end of the day, your job, your first priority, is on the protection of the players, the protection of your investment into your players, and the safety surrounding the players.
The Mercury play the final game of their three-game season series against the Sky in Chicago on Aug. 3. The teams have split their previous two games in Phoenix.
Common denominator: Clark
Cloud underscored what many other players have been saying for several years about being targets of racism and death threats online, within and outside of arenas. Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark is the common denominator.
The defending champion Las Vegas Aces' statement released on July 15 condemned hate speech that the team's All-Star Chelsea Gray received online on July 13. After the Aces' 109-75 home loss to Indiana the previous day, Gray posted a screenshot on her Instagram story from a message that included the n-word.
"People act like we just make this (expletive) up," Gray said in the post.
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) holds her head during the second quarter against the Indiana Fever at Michelob Ultra Arena on July 12,, in Las Vegas.
Thomas has repeatedly lambasted hate speech she's received from fans in multiple instances connected to Clark.
"It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this over basketball,” Thomas said June 30 at the Mercury's practice. “Now, we’re painted as thugs, and there’s death threats out on us. It’s really unacceptable and needs to change in this league. I'm sick and tired of it.”
