Natasha Cloud wanted a starting role, but the Dallas Wings’ guard depth made it impossible. With two back-to-back No. 1 draftees from UConn in Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, the franchise boosted its roster with a long-term ceiling in mind. But no one could have imagined that the Wings picking Fudd in the draft would close doors for the franchise for Cloud, as she recently explained.

“Dallas was another team that really interested me,” Cloud said on the Bird’s Eye View podcast on Friday. “But knowing their first pick would be Azzi, it was a little guard-heavy. At this point in my career, you get that starting role for a certain amount of time, and I still feel like I’m in that time zone.

“It’s not an important thing to me because I can easily come off and still add to the team,” she added. “But as a second-round draft pick, that’s something I worked my a– off to get. So, I wasn’t ready for that at this part in my career.”

Cloud’s 5.3 assists per game would’ve complemented Bueckers’ scoring, and on top of that, she’s a decent shooter as well. But the Wings’ guard depth made her role untenable.

Cloud, 34, had to work to establish herself as a starting-caliber player in this league after being drafted in the second round. Now, she wishes to retain the status that she has rightfully earned.

She delivered crucial performances off the bench before finally earning a starting role early in her career. And subsequently, in her last five seasons, Cloud has started in every game she’s appeared in, irrespective of the franchise. Even with the Chicago Sky, Cloud has started 6 of 9 games; a compromise she accepted only after Dallas fell through.

Here’s the thing: Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale anchored the backcourt; Fudd’s arrival as a bench spark plug shooter would have made Cloud the fourth guard competing for minutes.

Now, it’s not a surprise that for the Dallas Wings, Fudd is a long-term prospect. Her four-year rookie contract, which runs through the 2029 season, reflects that. Furthermore, the franchise’s dynamics clearly suggest that the team will be banking on Bueckers and Fudd’s chemistry going forward.

Even this season, we’re seeing that Fudd is averaging more minutes (26.6) than a season player like Alanna Smith (17.8), despite coming off the bench in most games. It’s quite certain that Fudd will definitely develop her place in a starting role for the franchise, and in the last few games, she has done exactly that.

So, with Bueckers, Ogunbowale, and Fudd in the starting lineup, Cloud’s role would have been limited off the bench. And even in that role, the perimeter would have been stacked with players like Aziaha James, Smith, and Odyssey Sims. These role players would have cut off Cloud’s minutes even more.

Instead, Cloud signed with Chicago, where she’s averaging 28 minutes and thriving. Even in her limited games so far, Cloud has recorded decent performances, including a 21-point game against Dallas itself. Meanwhile, Azzi Fudd isn’t falling behind with the Wings.

Azzi Fudd is flourishing with the Dallas Wings

Azzi Fudd’s initial games in the WNBA didn’t cause the league to take notice, to be honest. For instance, the last three No. 1 draftees (Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, and Paige Bueckers) all won WNBA Rookie of the Year awards. But in the first couple of games, Fudd was nowhere close to that level.

In fact, she wasn’t even making the starting lineup. Meanwhile, the No. 2 draftee, Olivia Miles, was already creating a stir in the community. Miles had established herself with the Minnesota Lynx, where she quickly stepped into the team’s playmaker role. The sentiment was mostly against Fudd after a couple of games.

Fudd answered her critics in the next two games, scoring 20+ points in back-to-back contests against the Washington Mystics and the Chicago Sky. Then came that game against the New York Liberty, when she truly exploded onto the WNBA scene. The UConn grad recorded 24 points on the night, including 6 of 12 from deep.

Notably, she set a franchise record in the game for the most three-pointers in a single game by a rookie.

Fudd had her first start in the next game against the Las Vegas Aces. She didn’t fold, producing another 20+ performance against a stacked team, including A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young.

This perfectly shows that the No. 1 draftee, Azzi Fudd, is truly coming into her own and blending with the league’s quality. Importantly, Fudd has started all three of the last games for the Dallas Wings. And to be honest, that’s just the bare minimum of her pro ceiling.