After winning her first WNBA championship last season as a starter with the Washington Mystics, Natasha Cloud is electing to forego her chance at a repeat during the 2020 season and instead use her time to fight for social reform.
“I have a responsibility to myself, to my community, and to my future children to fight for something that is much bigger than myself and the game of basketball,” Cloud writes on Instagram. “I will instead, continue the fight on the front lines for social reform, because until black lives matter, all lives can’t matter.”
Alongside her basketball career, Cloud has been an outspoken activist for years, including her presence at recent Black Lives Matters protests as well as her previous work on gun violence reform.
Her Mystics teammate LaToya Sanders will also sit out the season due to health concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Cloud joins other WNBA players including Renee Montgomery and Maya Moore to sit out the upcoming season and instead focus on social justice reform.
