A Rocky Road: Former Denver Nuggets Mascot Suing Kroenke Sports & Entertainment

Attorneys for Drake Solomon, who succeeded his father as Rocky, the Denver Nuggets’ beloved mountain lion mascot, plan to file a lawsuit against the Nuggets’ ownership group, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, as well as two team supervisors for illegal disability discrimination and retaliation after Drake was fired in August 2024 following hip-replacement surgery.

Kenn Solomon first suited up as Rocky, the mountain lion with the lightning bolt tail, on December 15, 1990; he soon became the most popular mascot in Colorado sports, known for his backwards half-court shots at the hoop. In 2012, Drake went to work for the Nuggets as a trampoline dunk artist and member of the “Promo Squad,” and when his father retired in 2021, Drake was the only candidate to succeed Kenn as Rocky. Westword told the saga of the father-son mascot duo last October.

In his second season as Rocky, the Nuggets’ 2022-2023 championship run, Drake began experiencing pain in his right hip after a bout of COVID, subsequently diagnosed as avascular necrosis, a condition in which his femur bones weren’t getting enough blood flow, causing them to degenerate. Drake had surgery to treat the condition in March 2023, and returned as Rocky after the championship season ended. But the pain endured, and in February 2024 doctors said he needed a double hip replacement.

Drake’s lawsuit alleges that two of his supervisors, Steve Johnston and Craig Dzaman, said he was unreliable when told he needed medical leave again, and told Drake that the organization would hold tryouts for the job of Rocky, “regardless of the outcome” of his surgery. When Drake returned to work post-surgery on May 20, 2024, he says he faced a hostile work environment. Drake participated in the tryouts for Rocky last summer, but was terminated on August 13, 2024. Drake is represented by Virginia Hill Butler and Matthew J. Cron of Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC.

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