ESPN and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reached a resolution Friday that will allow the network's reporters to be credentialed to cover Dallas' home games.
Cuban banned the reporters from entering games with media credentials last Friday and Sunday, saying he was unhappy ESPN would not have a reporter cover the team full time. On Monday, Cuban told The Associated Press that he is concerned automated game reports could eventually replace human-generated content.
"There have been several conversations relative to the concerns Mark has raised. Mark and I both agree that content written by individuals on site is much better," ESPN president John Skipper said in a statement. "To be clear, ESPN has never contemplated automated reporting for our NBA coverage. We remain committed to first-person reporting on the NBA. As we did last year, we plan to continue to be present at most Dallas Mavericks home games.
"When we are not in the building, our game recaps going forward will continue to utilize AP first-person reports. In all cases, in order for fans to be able to access more game coverage of their favorite team, we will now link to team sites, such as Mavs.com, in our game recaps."
"We are appreciative that ESPN will now commit to Mavs fans and all NBA fans with links to local and team provided coverage of every NBA game," Cuban said in an ESPN-issued statement. "This will assure all NBA fans that they will find team specific game reporting for every game of their favorite teams on ESPN. I am very appreciative for all the support, help and consideration that John Skipper of ESPN and NBA commissioner Adam Silver provided towards this agreement.
ESPN writer Tim MacMahon is a Dallas-based reporter who primarily covers the Mavericks for the network. He is also assigned to several other teams and stories as news warrants. Marc Stein is a national NBA reporter for ESPN and is also based in Dallas. MacMahon covered Tuesday's game in Los Angeles against the Lakers.