Six WNBA games last season across New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta were interrupted last year by spectators tossing sex toys onto the court during play, in act that one of the young male perpetators claimed was "supposed to be a joke".
Copycat incidents across the season were widely condemned by players, coaches and administrators for its sexist and misogynistic undertones, in addition to making a mockery of a growing professional competition that now has a net value exceeding US$5bn.
The WNBA attempted to crackdown on the act by promising a minimum one-year ban as well as prosecutions from local authorities for any further instances, but it again occurred this weekend when the Chicago Sky played against the Golden State Valkyries on Friday night.
That came just 24 hours after another incident when a weeknight match between Atlanta Dream and Los Angeles Sparks was also interrupted in the third term by a green sex toy being hurled onto the court, with a man seen fleeing the stadium to evade security.
The man was apprehended by stadium security and handed over to police, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Cloud condemned Friday night's action after the Sky's 73-70 victory, slamming the perpetrator and their supporters as "extremely weak".
“That hate is unwarranted ... and it says more about the internal struggles of that individual than it ever will say about the collective group (of WNBA players)," Cloud added.
"And the men that are throwing it, it shows that you are weak. Like, extremely weak. And it says a lot about how you feel about women.”
What started as an attention-seeking joke by a group of cryptocurrency traders has since become the symbol of a toxic debate regarding the eligibility of transgender athletes in the WNBA, with the group taking responsibility for this week's spate of incidents and promising to continue the trend until the league explicitly bans transgender players or "defines what a woman is by biological sex" in competition rules.
There has never been an openly transgender athlete in the WNBA and the league has not taken a formal stance on the issue, simply stating that "players who are women are eligible to play" in its Collective Bargaining Agreement.