Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revokes two reporters' credentials

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has revoked the credentials of two Dallas-based ESPN reporters as of last Friday.

Cuban did not provide a reason for barring national NBA writers Marc Stein and Tim McMahon from the locker room and press area.

"They're not banned from the building," Cuban told Art Garcia of The Sports Xchange on Sunday. "They can still buy a ticket."

McMahon served as a Mavericks beat writer until this year when he transitioned to a national role at ESPN, which Mavericks website Mavs Moneyball reports Cuban did not approve of. Stein is a longtime national NBA writer for the network.

"We're committed to thoroughly covering the Mavs and the NBA," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said in a statement.

The NBA also issued a statement to Mavs Moneyball saying, "We are in communication with both ESPN and Mark Cuban about this matter."

McMahon was previously banned by Cuban in 2008 when Cuban instituted a policy banning full-time bloggers from the locker room.

McMahon, working for the Dallas Morning News at the time, had just written an article that was critical of then-Mavericks coach Avery Johnson for the Dallas Morning News, according to Sports Business Daily.

In response to that ban, Cuban wrote the following in an email to Morning News Deputy Managing Editor/Sports Bob Yates: "I can assure you that I am not singling out Tim MacMahon. ... I don't care what Tim writes, then or now. What I do care about is being fair to all bloggers."