Broomall’s Natasha Cloud to sign with Phoenix Mercury as WNBA free agency opens

Natasha Cloud’s time with the Washington Mystics has come to an end.

The fan favorite and community activist has agreed to sign a free-agent deal with the Phoenix Mercury, according to two people with knowledge of her decision. Contract terms were not immediately available.

Cloud, 31, has spent her entire eight-year WNBA career with Washington after being drafted with the third pick of the second round in the 2015 draft. The Cardinal O’Hara and St. Joseph’s grad was a starter on the 2019 championship team and built a reputation as a vocal leader and defensive stalwart.

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The move is the first of what is expected to be a transitional offseason for the Mystics after they tried for years to maximize a championship window with the core of that 2019 team. The team extended a core qualifying offer to two-time MVP Elena Delle Donne, a Wilmington native who was set to be an unrestricted free agent, meaning she can re-sign on a one-year deal worth the league maximum or work out a longer-term contract, but her future remains uncertain. Forward Tianna Hawkins is an unrestricted free agent, and forward Li Meng has been extended a reserve qualifying offer.

Cloud was named second-team all-defense in 2019 and first-team all-defense in 2022. She led the league in assists per game in 2022 and also ranked in the top five in the category in 2019, 2021, and 2023 (she sat out the 2020 season). Last season, Cloud averaged career highs in points (12.7) and rebounds (3.7) and showed she could be a more consistent scoring threat, though her shooting percentage has surpassed 40 percent just once during her career.

The Mercury holds the No. 3 pick in April’s draft, which is expected to be top-heavy with marquee prospects. Phoenix still has the league’s all-time leading scorer in Diana Taurasi and sharpshooter Sophie Cunningham. Eight-time All-Star Brittney Griner is an unrestricted free agent but is expected to re-sign with Phoenix. The organization is entering a new phase with a new owner in Mat Ishbia and new coach in Nate Tibbetts after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

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Cloud, a Broomall native, immersed herself in the community during her time in Washington and regularly was outspoken about social justice causes. She opted out of the 2020 season amid a summer of racial reckoning and wrote an essay for the Players’ Tribune to explain her decision.

“The millions of people who are helping to protect those racist cops, and who are helping to insulate those in power, by staying ‘neutral,’ ” she wrote, “… it’s to tell them that their silence is the knee on George Floyd’s neck. ... If you’re silent, I don’t [obscenity] with you, period.”

Cloud organized a media blackout in 2019 to address gun violence in the District and became an unofficial sponsor of Hendley Elementary and Ward 8 in Southeast Washington. She was also outspoken about the 2022 mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers and has announced intentions to go into politics after her playing career has concluded.