Natasha Cloud spoke for the first time since her highly-publicized encounter with Enes Kanter Freedom.
BROOKLYN—In the brief time she addressed her role in one of the most talked-about moments of the 2026 WNBA season, the thoughts of Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud were far from foggy.
The lead-up to the Sky's Saturday matinee with the New York Liberty marked the first time Cloud spoke to media since the Indiana Fever and Enes Kanter Freedom visited the Windy City last weekend. Cloud was frustrated not by the situation but because the Kanter Freedom conundrum takes away from what she believes are bigger issues both on and off the WNBA floor.
"I won't be talking about anything that happened with an irrelevant person," Cloud said. "What I will focus on is what actually affects women and children."
Cloud approached a courtside Kanter Freedom during the third quarter of last Sunday's game and shouted at the NBA veteran that has declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft in a demonstration that has continued the ongoing debate surrounding transgender athlete participation in women's basketball.
Cloud Gets Loud On Further Issues
The veteran guard and activist listed several issues that she felt deserved greater attention instead of the participation debate: she led off with domestic violence and sexual assault against women and included other happenings such as food recalls, the women's mortality rate, and "a genocide/war that we were promised that we wouldn't be in."
With all that in mind, Cloud opted to devote no further attention to the Kanter Freedom encounter, which led to the latter's ejection from Wintrust Arena.
"There's so many other things that we can focus on that actually have immediate impact on women and children that we say we're trying to protect right now. We are being distracted, and that is an intentional distraction," Cloud said. "The more that we hate each other, the more that we have bias against each other, the more we're going to be distracted from real life issues that are plaguing our communities, plaguing these communities that we say that we're here to support and we're here to protect."
"It's hypocrisy from top to finish, especially the ones that hide behind that faith. It is hypocrisy to a T. So I will not talk about any irrelevant threat to women, because that's exactly what it is. I want to talk about real issues that face women, and it's not our trans human beings, and it's not our drag queens, it's not our gay community. There is a certain demographic of people that you can generally search. It's a simple Google search of what is the greatest threat to women and children currently in 2026 in the United States of America, and it's not going to be trans people."
While Cloud refused to refer to Kanter Freedom by name, she took aim at those against transgender participation, claiming that the same party was against current WNBA players landing raises brought about the collective bargaining agreement reached over the winter.
"The men now that are like, 'oh, we need to protect the WNBA,' you all were the same ones saying we shouldn't have been paid," Cloud said. "You all were the same ones saying that we shouldn't have been invested into, the same ones saying that we're a joke, the same ones that don't respect black women. So if you're going to protect women, that means all women. That includes black women, trans women, and the list goes on and on and on."
Sky Denies Kanter Freedom
Since Sunday, Cloud played 16 minutes in Chicago's Tuesday win over Connecticut before leaving with a knee injury. She was back in the Sky's starting lineup in her latest return to New York, where she remains a fan favorite after spending last season in seafoam. Cloud scored a team-best 14 points as the Sky fell to the Liberty by an 85-66 final.
In addition to the on-court happenings, Sky management led by majority owner Michael Alter announced that Kanter Freedom would be banned from future Sky games at Wintrust Arena. Cloud hoped the league would follow suit with a wider prohibition and appreciated the support from Alter and other Chicago brass such as head coach Tyler Marsh and general manager Jeff Pagliocca.
"That's immediate action. We're asking for protection and that's what protection looks like from a man. I want everyone to hear that's what protection looks like from them ... We can make solutions and bring solutions to the table that best benefits putting our players first and protecting our players. I think that Jeff, Tyler, and Michael have really done a good job of that."
Cloud hopes that the upcoming break in the WNBA season to account for the FIBA World Cup break allows for a rest of sorts, one that turns the conversation back to the historic happenings on the basketball court. She nonetheless continued to post warnings for those that supposedly want to turn the players into political pawns, believing that detractors are stepping their rhetoric up with the mid-term elections coming up.
"I would love for our leagues to be celebrated for the amazing year that we're having," Cloud said. "You have so many players playing at such an elite level of play that we don't even talk about it because we are a microcosm of a bigger issue that is our our society. We won't allow our league to be used as a pawn for any political or cultural wars that the right side wants to [start]."
"This league has always stood on principle. This league has always stood on our humanitarian efforts. Our league has always stood up for every social issue, whether it affects us or not. This league, the women of this league, have always stood for what is right, and that will never shy away. I hope that this break does give everyone some time to go touch some f***ing grass."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
