Over the past two years, women’s basketball has seen a big jump in viewership, ticket sales, and merchandise. Sure, a lot of it comes from the “Caitlin Clark effect,” but there’s more to it than just the Indiana guard. The WNBA product has gotten better over the years, and people are tuning in for women’s basketball in general. Natasha Cloud is a firm believer in that!

In a recent tweet, ESPN shared that it had delivered its most-watched WNBA regular season ever.

• The games averaged 1.3 million viewers, up 6 percent from last year across 25 games
• ESPN networks aired the most-watched WNBA game ever, with the Sky vs. Fever matchup drawing 2.7 million viewers.

Natasha Cloud didn’t waste a second to retweet it, taking a dig at those who thought people only watched the WNBA for Caitlin Clark. “Nobody watches women’s sports 🤌🏾,” she wrote sarcastically. In late August, the WNBA announced that its 13 teams drew a total of 2,501,609 fans over 226 games this season, surpassing the previous record set in 2002 when the league had 16 teams. Back then, it took 256 games to hit the milestone. This number is expected to cross 3 million after the playoffs. And remember, this came despite Caitlin Clark playing just 13 games, showing that fans are tuning in for the game itself too.

If you want to see what the WNBA product is all about, check out Game 1 of the playoff series between the Mercury and Liberty. The game went into overtime, and Cloud led Liberty to a 76-69 OT  win over her old team, the Mercury, dropping a game-high 23 points. In true fashion, it was a sweet revenge for everything Cloud went through this offseason.

In the trade that sent Alyssa Thomas to the Mercury, Cloud and Rebecca Allen were headed to the Connecticut Sun. Unlike some others, Cloud wasn’t thrilled about leaving Phoenix this past winter. “The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least,” she said. “I think for the public view, if this isn’t proof enough of the business of the NBA, the WNBA… this is what it is. It’s really hard to be loyal to organizations in this situation when you can just up and move no matter what.”

While Cloud joined the defending champions later in the offseason, she hadn’t had much success against the Mercury during the regular season, with Phoenix winning three of their four matchups. But the playoffs are what really count, and Cloud got the better of her old team. Moments like these are exactly why fans tune in.

And Cloud ended up setting a WNBA playoff record with her performance…

Natasha Cloud creates WNBA record

It was definitely a “Cloudy” afternoon in the deserts of Arizona. The Liberty fought hard and fair to take down the Mercury, and Cloud had a game to remember. She scored 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, grabbed six rebounds, and added five assists alongside 3 steals. This led to her creating a new WNBA playoffs record.

According to ESPN, Natasha Cloud is the first WNBA player to post 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on at least 75% shooting in a playoff game since Nneka Ogwumike did it in 2016. And that’s not all — according to StatMuse, she’s also the first player to hit those numbers in a playoff game since she did it herself in 2023.

Cloud will definitely remember this night — it was huge for the Liberty to grab a win on the road, especially with Breanna Stewart possibly missing a few games due to her knee injury. Now the Liberty head back home, hoping the Barclays Center crowd can push them to another win and secure their spot in the playoffs. What do you think? Can the Liberty do it without Stewie? Let us know in the comments!