Even Denver Nuggets mascot's wage is substantially higher than WNBA's highest earners

Professional sports have always enjoyed a massive fan base. While the entire focus remains on the players, the other features of the league are hardly ever discussed. The other aspects we are talking about are office workers, officials, waterboys and mascots. According to a recent givemesport.com report, the salary of an NBA mascot was revealed, which is indeed an eye-opener.

NBA mascot salary: How much does NBA pay mascots?

The job of a mascot during matchday is to entertain the crowd. Though it might sound easy, becoming an NBA mascot isn't an easy job. The league looks for the best of the best candidates who have prior experience of working as a mascot. Out of  82 game seasons, each team plays 41 home games and the mascot has to be available and ready to put on a show. However, the job of the mascot is also immensely rewarding as well.

Currently, the NBA players earn astronomical salaries compared to women basketball players and mascots. While one might think that mascots aren't paid a huge amount, reports suggest that they earn more money than even the WNBA players. As per a report by Bleacher Report, Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky the Mountain Lion currently tops the chart in terms of mascot wages.  The  mascot earns an eye-popping $625,000 (£552,000) per year. The report mentions that the money is ten times more than the average mascot wage, which is $60,000 (£53,000).

According to hypebeast.com, Rocky was first introduced as a mascot back in 1990 when the Denver Nuggets were going through the toughest phase of the franchise and were struggling to sell tickets at home games. The report states that Ken Soloman is the only known person to portray the character. The second-highest paid mascot is Harry the Hawk of Atlanta Hawks, who earns $600,000 (£529,000), while the Chicago Bulls mascot Benny takes home $400,000 (£353,000) each year.

Top WNBA players' salary details revealed 

According to NBC Sports report, the highest-earning WNBA players currently are Seattle Storm duo of Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart, and Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi. The three women basketball players earn a reported $228,000 (£200,000) per year. The amount is almost £400,000 less than the money earned by Denver Nuggets mascot. 

Loyd is a two-time WNBA champion and earned the Rookie of the Year award during her maiden season with the Storm in 2015. Stewart just like Lyod, was named Rookie of the Year before going on to win two WNBA titles with the Storm, while picking up the MVP award in 2018. Taurasi, on the other hand, is a Women's basketball legend winning five Olympic gold medals with Team USA, spanning from 2004 to 2020. She was named WNBA MVP in 2009 and won three titles with Phoenix Mercury. Last year, Taurasi was selected by fans as the WNBA’s greatest player of all time, and in 2017, she became the league’s all-time leading scorer.