The new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in the WNBA means the league's athletes have the opportunity to get paid significantly more than ever before. It also means that the league's free agents — of which there were a whole lot this year — have the ability to shop around for a new team home in a way that they haven't always.
That's resulted in a short but thrilling period of free agency in the league that's seen some big shake-ups (the Chicago Sky are a completely different team than they were last year, for example) and major contracts (both the Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever announced big, multi-year deals for A'ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston this week). But it's also meant that some players fans have grown to love are currently without a team, a reality that could mean they end up without a job this season.
One of those players is Natasha Cloud, who immediately made an impression and endeared herself to fans when she joined the Liberty last year. Many assumed that Cloud's return to New York was guaranteed, but it rapidly became clear that things weren't going to be quite that simple.
As of Sunday, April 19, Cloud still hasn't signed a contract with a team — and most teams have started training camp. It's unclear if a return to New York is completely off the table, and though moves to other teams have been floated, so far there haven't been any takers. While some have suggested that Cloud's willingness to be outspoken about her political beliefs is what's keeping her off a roster, that doesn't realy square with the history of the league — the WNBA is in and of itself political by origin, and has always made space for and even encouraged a spectrum of viewpoints.
If talent isn't the problem, and fan's feelings aren't an issue, and politics aren't in her way, then it stands to reason it's safe to believe that another factor might be the culprit: the terms of the new CBA.
That's not a suggestion that the CBA was a mistake, or that isn't wasn't good enough. In fact, it's quite the contrary — these gains were necessary, and the new CBA is a wonderful thing that will change the game for players now and in the future (and even in other women's leagues). But it is a suggestion that there were lessons that will need to be learned as players and teams adjust to the new normal, and Cloud might be learning one of them right now.
Without knowing what terms Cloud has or hasn't insisted on during free agency, most of us can only speculate about what they might be. It's possible Cloud wanted to play hardball and get paid a large sum of money — something she deserves — but teams had other priorities, or were able to make other deals. Now that the season is coming down to the wire, she may be forced to compromise financially, something that may not sit right after months of extensive negotiations. There are plenty of teams who have the cap space for Cloud, and at this point, it's just a matter of buckling down and working together to figure it out.
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