“Welcomed with open arms,” Natasha Cloud on joining the Phoenix Mercury

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Phoenix Mercury has the potential to achieve great success this season with the help of new players like Natasha Cloud.

“I’m really grateful to be here in the valley, honestly.”

Cloud had already achieved a high level of success in the WNBA before joining Phoenix this season. She won the 2019 championship with the Washington Mystics, where she had spent her entire career until December 2023.

“I was released in the off-season, and I found a home here. But to give eight years to an organization and then to be let go on a day off, it’s kind of crazy.”

On Thursday night, facing her former team for the first time, Cloud achieved her second consecutive double-double with 14 points and 10 assists in the Mercury’s 83-80 win over the Mystics. Phoenix improved to 3-1, securing their first three-game winning streak since 2022.

“Coming here and being welcomed with open arms, given the opportunity to get to know my teammates, it has been really great,” Cloud said after the win. “I think we’ve been together for, what, three weeks, three and a half weeks? But in that time, we’ve really gotten to know each other. The chemistry off the court is now showing on the court.”

With averages of 11.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 8.0 assists so far in 2024, Cloud has had no trouble establishing her role with her new team.

“That’s the fun part, right? Figuring this out along the way, enjoying the company of the people around you. And 10 assists, that’s not me, that’s my teammates. So I get to just be myself and play with amazing scorers, and that’s exciting for me.”

These scorers include Kahleah Copper, the current WNBA points leader, who averages 28.5 points per game, and Diana Taurasi, the only WNBA player to ever score more than 10,000 career points and the undisputed leader of the Mercury over the last two decades.

“We wanted Tash to come here and be exactly who she is; no need to fit in,” Taurasi told reporters. “She came in, did her thing, and we gave her the keys.”

Using “thankfulness” and “gratitude” as her words of the day when facing Washington for the first time in her career, Cloud made it clear that Phoenix is where she belongs. “Being able to be myself in this organization, being accepted for who I am – the fiery player, the dog, the passionate leader – was immediately welcomed. Even in free agency, I felt pursued, I felt wanted, I felt appreciated for the player that I am.”

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