Liberty guard Natasha Cloud wins WNBA All-Star Skills Challenge; teammate Sabrina Ionescu wins 3-point contest

Gabriela Carroll, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 18, 2025

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INDIANAPOLIS — New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud may not have been named to a WNBA All-Star team, but she still made her presence felt on All-Star weekend. The Broomall, Pa., native took home the All-Star Skills Challenge crown, in addition to a $57,575 cash prize.

Cloud led wire-to-wire in the challenge, posting the best time in the first round to advance to a final against crowd favorite Erica Wheeler, who played for the Fever from 2016-19 and again from 2023-24.

“I knew that was a definite for me, I was going to hit my passes,” Cloud told ESPN post-challenge. “I wanted to be as fast as I could on that so I could get into my shots and take my time, but also I felt like I was missing and I was getting those second and third shots up, but that’s the name of the game. Once I got to the last one I looked up and saw I had three seconds and just went ‘Don’t smoke this layup!’ ”

Cloud’s girlfriend, teammate Isabelle Harrison, joked pre-challenge that Cloud needed to win so they could put a down payment on a house. After winning, Cloud told ESPN’s Holly Rowe she was making it happen.

“You’re going to get that house,” Cloud said.

Fellow Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu won the 3-point contest, beating out defending champion Allisha Gray in the final round with 30 baskets, her second win in the 3-point challenge.

The skills challenge was Cloud’s All-Star weekend debut, and the 33-year-old, who was the league’s assist leader in 2022 and is a three-time All-Defensive Team member, said that seeing her and Wheeler in the final was a win for the league’s “middlewomen,” the role players who make up the majority of the league’s players, and a sign of her own growth as a player.

“I’m meant to be here,” Cloud said. “I’m meant to be on this level. I’m confident in who I am, I know who I am, whether I get the flowers or not.”