Misconduct within Phoenix Suns reportedly extends beyond Robert Sarver to current CEO, other executives

Allegations of workplace misconduct within the Phoenix Suns and Mercury extend beyond managing partner Robert Sarver to multiple executives still employed by the teams, including president and chief executive officer Jason Rowley, according to another investigative report from ESPN's Baxter Holmes.

Holmes first published allegations of racism, misogyny and toxicity against Sarver in November 2021. The NBA soon launched an external investigation conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. The league announced a one-year suspension and $10 million fine of Sarver on Sept. 13, in coordination with the release of the law firm's 43-page report, confirmed through more than 320 interviews and the review of more than 80,000 "documents and other materials, including emails, text messages and videos."

Sarver announced plans to sell the Suns and Mercury a week later, issuing a defiant statement in the face of controversy over the volume of misconduct alleged in a report that spanned his ownership since 2004.

Holmes noted specific passages from the report throughout his most recent findings, including one that referenced "a trickle-down effect" from Sarver to employees who "felt they had license to mistreat their own reports." Another cited multiple incidents that amounted to "bullying" under the Suns Workplace Policy.

According to Holmes, multiple instances within the report anonymously referenced Rowley and other Suns executives. Holmes' own reporting "uncovered additional allegations, including verbal abuse of employees, mistreatment of pregnant and postpartum employees, and other instances of retaliation and intimidation."

Rowley has verbally accosted multiple female employees over his 18-year tenure, according to ESPN. He was allegedly among several male executives who subsequently pushed to terminate one of those female employees while she was on maternity leave. Following pushback from the woman's female supervisor, the Suns waited a month after the new mother returned from maternity leave to fire her in 2014, ESPN reported.

Rowley has also allegedly berated security guards at the team's arena on multiple occasions, per ESPN.

Suns chief revenue officer Dan Costello, vice president of business operations Doug Chisholm and general counsel Melissa Goldenberg also allegedly held pregnancies against two additional female employees.

According to Holmes, Costello and Chisholm, respectively, told the same woman during her pregnancy in 2014, "You and your husband need to have a discussion about who's going to take care of your kids, because you can't work here and do both," and then, "While we want to support you personally, we can't do it professionally." The woman was reportedly demoted thereafter and later left the organization.

Holmes also reported that Goldenberg told another woman in 2019, after she had prematurely given birth, "You can be a stay-at-home mom or you can work, but I need you f***ing here." The woman was among employees furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic and left the team in early 2021, during the NBA's investigation into Sarver and before the team's new Paid Parental Leave program launched this past spring.

Rowley, Costello, Goldenberg and senior vice president of ticket sales and service Kyle Pottinger were also reportedly party to another incident in 2019. A representative of a team sponsor allegedly grabbed a female employee's buttocks and texted unwanted advances to her on a work trip to a Suns game in Mexico City, according to Holmes. Rowley, Costello, Goldenberg and Pottinger were among the executives who were alerted to the sexual harassment, but took no action against the sponsor's representative, Holmes reported.

"The plain truth is, we should have been disciplined and diligent in the reporting and remediation process," the Suns organization said in a recent statement to ESPN. "And our organization should have had in place more effective structural safeguards to respond to allegations such as the one raised in December 2019.

"That is deeply regrettable. We believe we have made meaningful progress since then."

The sponsor's rep remains in his position, occasionally working alongside his victim, according to Holmes.

Multiple employees expressed concern to ESPN about executives who have gone unpunished since the league's investigation. One told Holmes, "There are still senior executives who are currently on staff that have helped to foster this toxic workplace for the last 15-plus years with no culpability for their actions."

During his suspension, Sarver still has sole power over the hiring and firing of team executives.

"Any senior leader still employed by the Suns must own his or her actions both good and bad, learn from those actions, and do better," the team told ESPN in a non-committal statement. "That is non-negotiable."

Meanwhile, the NBA is reportedly still reviewing incidents reported by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz.

"Both the sales process of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury and the review of alleged misconduct by others at the organization are ongoing," NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told ESPN. "That review will remain an internal personnel matter."

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Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach