Former NBA mascot sues team for wrongful termination after surgery

Published On: August 16, 2025

A former Denver Nuggets mascot has sued the team’s owner, claiming that the team fired him last year after he had a hip injury, in violation of disability protection regulations.

According to USA Today, 31-year-old Drake Solomon is suing Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Nuggets, on grounds of disability, retaliation, and two counts of aiding and abetting unfair employment practices against his supervisors.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Denver District Court, alleges that Solomon is suing Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for undisclosed damages.

Solomon said to CBS Colorado, “I never wanted things to go down this way.” However, they could have handled some situations better, not only with me but also with other people.

Nine years after joining the Nuggets as a trampoline dunk artist on the Promo Squad in 2012, Solomon was brought on board to play Rocky, the team’s mascot, in 2021. After his father played the first Rocky for over thirty years, he took over the role.

However, during the 2022–2023 NBA season, when the Nuggets won the NBA title, Solomon was diagnosed by the Cleveland Clinic with avascular necrosis, a painful bone illness brought on by a lack of blood supply to bones. Before having a second operation for a double hip replacement, he had surgery to treat the issue.

According to the petition, the Nuggets informed Solomon that they would postpone Rocky’s tryouts due to his history of impairment and their lack of faith in his health.

According to the lawsuit, Solomon said he was greeted by a hostile work environment upon his return from hip surgery and that the Nuggets were holding tryouts for Rocky since he had burnt them the previous time. The lawsuit alleges that Solomon’s rights under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act were violated when the Nuggets informed him that he was being fired because of his performance during tryouts.

According to CBS Colorado, Solomon claims he was offered a non-disclosure agreement and $20,000 as part of his severance compensation, but he turned it down.

“I thought it was shady,” Solomon remarked. I had no intention of signing that.

According to Solomon, he also thinks that other workers were given comparable severance benefits, which lawyers claim are under Colorado’s Protecting Opportunities and Workers Rights Act, as reported by CBS.