Rocky, the beloved mascot of the Denver Nuggets’ NBA team, reportedly makes more money than all WNBA players — and significantly more than the other NBA mascots.
According to Boardroom, Rocky is the highest-paid NBA mascot at $625,000. Harry Hawk, the Atlanta Hawks’ mascot, is the second-highest paid at $600,000. Benny the Bull (Chicago Bulls) is the third highest-paid at $400,000, followed by Phoenix Suns mascot Go the Gorilla ($200,000) and Hugo the Hornet of the Charlotte Hornets ($100,000).
Many on social media noted that Rocky’s $625,000 is a higher salary than every player in the WNBA. Per Spotrac, Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings and Jewell Lloyd of the Seattle Storm carry base salaries of $234,936.
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Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Phoenix Mercury and Elena Delle Donne of the Washington Mystics are just behind Ogunbowale and Lloyd at $234,350 in base salary. Per Spotrac, 16 different WNBA players have a base salary of at least $200,000.
Ogunbowale, who signed a four-year contract extension with Dallas back in February, is a two-time All-Star who earned First Team and Second Team nods in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The former Notre Dame standout and 2020 WNBA scoring champion led the Fighting Irish to a national championship in 2018.
Lloyd, a four-time All-Star, led the Storm to WNBA Championships in the 2018 and 2020 seasons. Lloyd also led the United States to a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
NBA fans won’t have to wait long to see Rocky back on the NBA court. The Nuggets open their season with a road game against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 19. They will play the Oklahoma City Thunder in their home opener on Oct. 22.
The 2022 WNBA season concluded in August, with the Las Vegas Aces defeating the Connecticut Sun in the best-of-five WNBA Finals series. The league will expand to a 40-game regular season schedule for 2023.
