Natasha Cloud has finally broken her silence. For the first time since her viral confrontation with Enes Kanter Freedom, Cloud addressed the controversy, but if anyone expected the Chicago Sky veteran to relive the heated exchange, they walked away disappointed.
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Natasha Cloud addressed reporters right before the Sky’s game against the New York Liberty on August 29, and made it clear that she had moved past whatever happened, and called the culture war that has taken the WNBA by storm as a “intentional distraction.”
“I won’t be talking about anything that will happen with an irrelevant person,” she said, which Front Office Sports posted about on X.
“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, that we are being distracted… 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. We are a microcosm of a bigger issue that is our society. And we wouldn’t allow our league to be used as a pawn for any political or cultural wars that the right side wants. We’re absolutely not going to.”
These comments are the first time Natasha Cloud has publicly addressed the altercation between her and Kanter Freedom. The confrontation between Cloud and Freedom took place during the Sky’s game against the Indiana Fever on August 23. During the third quarter, the two started jawing at each other after Cloud scored a bucket, leading to her having to be held back by teammates and Freedom being escorted out of the arena by security personnel.
Freedom’s recent involvement with the WNBA began when he came out in support of Sophie Cunningham’s comments on transgender athletes in an ESPN profile released on July 21. He then announced that he had declared for the 2027 WNBA Draft in an attempt to challenge the league’s eligibility rules, and was soon joined by another former NBA player, Royce White.
The league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement states that “only players who are women may play in the WNBA,” but doesn’t provide any clarification regarding gender identity.
Natasha Cloud directed some of her comments towards these efforts from former NBA players who wish to be drafted, listing their purported desire to protect the WNBA as hypocritical.
“The men now who are like, ‘Oh, we need to protect the WNBA.’ Y’all are the same ones who are saying we shouldn’t have been paid,” she told reporters.
“Ya’ll were the same ones saying that we shouldn’t have been invested into. Ya’ll are the same ones saying that we’re a joke. … If you’re going to protect women, that includes all women. That includes black women, trans women, and the list goes on and on and on. So that root of the issue is? Men… And we love y’all men that stand with standards cause there is a standard.”
She’s referring to a press conference on August 24, when Sky owner Michael Alter told local reporters that Freedom was being indefinitely banned from the venue for his behavior, calling him a “threat.”
Alter made it clear during the press conference that Kanter started the dialogue, having come to that conclusion after speaking to several people who were seated next to the former NBA player.
Natasha Cloud also added that she was proud of the Sky for banning Freedom and taking action in a manner she thought was timely.
“Michael goes and bans, and that’s immediate action,” Cloud added. “We’re asking for protection, and that’s what protection looks like from a man. That’s what protection looks like from men.”
She hoped that the WNBA “follows their lead,” but the league has reportedly already made it clear that they have no plans to issue a league-wide ban, per FOS.
Regardless, with her comments, it’s clear that Natasha Cloud isn’t planning on giving Freedom more air or what she believes the controversy has provided him with: attention.