With a $625,000 Paycheck, Nuggets’ Mascot Rocky the Mountain Lion Out Earns Highest Paid WNBA Star by Almost 3x

Rocky the Mountain Lion or Jewell Lloyd—who would you rather be? A mask wearer who just dances around, or the tagline of the highest earner in the WNBA? If you did not know the salaries, you would much rather be the best-paid player in a sports league, right?

Wrong, because the mascot out-earns the player—by a considerable amount. He out-earns doctors and lawyers too! For just being a mascot! Rocky earns $625k, a number that is closer to the minimum salary of an NBA player than to a WNBA player. He makes close to 3 times what the WNBA star makes – she caps out at 234 thousand dollars a year.

This person behind the mask is by far the richest person to ever put on a costume in the real world—outside of Hollywood, of course. 625 thousand—not cents, but dollars. How depressing must it be to be at the top of your league in terms of earning potential and not make nearly as much as the Mascot, who shoots half-court shots during half-time?

Jamal Murray was asked about the person behind the mask, and he kept it confidential. Good for him, because that person deserves every bit of privacy.

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Rocky the Mountain Lion earns more than 10 times the average pay for professional NBA mascots (around $60k).

(h/t @SBJ) pic.twitter.com/IUodSByGgg

— Boardroom (@boardroom) October 2, 2022

Rocky the Mountain Lion is the best-paid Mascot ever – his nearest competition comes from Atlanta

Rocky has been the life of the stadium; Denver games have been more fun because of him. Colorado is a beautiful place, but it is serene. Rocky brings life to a state of calm, similar to the fictional location of South Park. But is that energy worth so much money?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjzMXmkHfo8

According to the Denver front office, he is. Rocky and Harry the Hawk combine to make more than the minimum salary for the NBA—imagine a mascot making more than an actual NBA player.

But for the office, the mascot is the mainstay—their brand. Players may come and go, but Rocky remains. The Mountain Lion, like the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, is the main attraction.

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How much do the top paid WNBA athletes make?

The top 5 WNBA players get paid $234 thousand and change; the difference between the 1st and 3rd is about 600 dollars. The combined salaries of the top three players equaled the earnings of Rocky the Mountain Lion. It all boils down to who brings in more viewership. A person who gets to live his childhood dream of being a Thundercat gets paid more than an actual player.

Jewell Llyod, Elena Delle Donna, and Skylar Diggins-Smith have a combined experience of 23 years But they are still highly underpaid. The debate regarding pay inequality in sports is raging and this is a case that properly depicts the surprising divide.

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