Natasha Cloud’s Liberty breakup is still thawing out.
The Sky guard, who will return to the Barclays Center on Wednesday night, revealed after her team’s practice Tuesday that she hadn’t spoken to GM Jonathan Kolb or any Liberty players since being allowed to walk in free agency earlier this year.
“I wouldn’t,” she said. “It’s about Chicago at that point. It’s not about New York.”
The guard, who spent one impactful year with the Liberty, was not retained as Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones were all given max deals. But Cloud still has plenty of fond memories from her time with the team.
“I’m really happy to be back in New York,” she said. “I’m happy to be back with this fanbase that I didn’t get a chance to say bye to, or kind of have my farewell with because of how it happened.
“But I’m just really happy to be in this space, and yeah, I definitely use that as fuel and fire, but it’s another game, and it’s about the Chicago Sky and trying to get it done.”
Cloud’s star rose in the bright lights of New York. She started 41 games and was given a bigger backdrop for her well-known activism work. Those memories haven’t faded even after she was forced to find a new team.
“It was just good to be in an environment that I just felt like really took me in, showed me who I was again, both on and off the court, and especially in my activism and my morale,” she said. “New York was a really good place for my soul, for my mental. So it always feels good to be back and knowing that they had such an impression on me, and I hope that I had the same impression on them as they did me.”
The 34-year-old guard is having another effective year in the backcourt for Chicago. She’s averaging 9.8 points, 4.5 assists and 3.4 rebounds — just a tick below what she produced in New York.
Still, she is hoping her struggling Sky (9-17) can build some momentum against the Liberty heading into the All-Star break.
“Perspective is really big for us in our locker room, so it’s not even really about New York,” she said. “It’s more about us as the Sky, and the perspective is we’re two games out of ninth place right now, and so our trajectory has got to continue to go up.”
Wednesday will certainly bring more emotions for Cloud than a typical game, though she gave a steely answer when asked if she had any plans to see or speak to any former teammates.
“I mean, for me, business is business,” she said. “My relationships are my relationships. My friendships over the years are my friendships. And on the court, we’re out there competing every single night, whether it’s my best friend on the floor or not. We’re gonna get the best of both of us, and when we’re done, that’s where it kind of ends.”
