Natasha Cloud

Whether it be Maya Moore stepping away from the game to focus on reforming America's criminal justice system or the Atlanta Dream choosing to ignore former co-owner and former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler's calls to stick to sports, the WNBA and its players have always been at the forefront of social justice activism in sports. Natasha Cloud of the Washington Mystics continues to blaze that trail as an activist and athlete when she opted out of a year of competition to instead advocate for changes in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis. The previous year, she spoke out tirelessly against gun violence in Washington, D.C., and even organized a media blackout during the WNBA Finals to draw even more attention to the issue. She was recently honored with a mural at New Hope Academy in Landover, Md., for her community work. While Cloud has returned to the court, she acknowledged there's still a lot of work to be done, saying: "The needle has definitely moved forward a tiny bit, but there's so much work for us to do still."