On the afternoon of Sept. 21, Phoenix Suns employees logged onto an all-hands Zoom session led by team president and CEO Jason Rowley. Hours earlier, Robert Sarver had announced he was selling the Suns and Phoenix Mercury amid continuing and widespread anger over his conduct as majority owner. While employees eagerly anticipated what Rowley might say about the sale and how it could impact their futures, another thought was burning on the minds of many on the call.

It was a question that had been percolating for days throughout the organization. Like all of them, it was submitted anonymously through the team's new human resources department.

After a 10-minute opening statement, Rowley began reading questions from his staff.

"While Robert has been around for the last 18 years, many other leaders in our organization overseeing the day-to-day have been here as well," Rowley read aloud. "Are there any sanctions coming for specific members of our organization as a result of this investigation?"

That query tied back to a specific passage in the report from the New York-based Wachtell Lipton lawyers the league had hired to probe Sarver's tenure:

"Many current and former executives and employees told investigators they believed Sarver's conduct had a trickle-down effect: he behaved poorly toward his direct reports, and those reports in turn felt they had license to mistreat their own reports," the report read.

The line hit hard for one longtime Suns executive who recently left the team. "I went into therapy because of [the trickle-down effect]," the former executive said.

The Suns and Rowley were prepared for such questions. They had commissioned global advisory firm the Brunswick Group to prepare a communication plan for the team in advance of the NBA's report, team sources told ESPN, and the topic of punishment for executive misconduct was included in one of many proposed questions along with suggested answers.