Is the NBA Protecting LeBron in Not Giving a Media Credential to Scott Raab?

First we went to Raab for his side: “I’m no pissant that just started writing about sports,” Raab said. “But I don’t want to portray myself as someone who is being victimized – ‘oh my god my book project is at risk!’ Not at all, far from it. In some ways, this is better for me.”

It was still unclear to us why Raab wasn’t being given a credential – writers for various outlets (ESPN, etc) write and blog about the NBA, but don’t do so on a daily basis. Raab was blogging for Esquire, a popular men’s magazine, in addition to working on his book. Was it something else? The next logical question: Was the league somehow protecting LeBron from Raab, who has been very critical of LeBron on twitter (check out the #WhoreofAkron hashtag)?

“Absolutely,” Raab said. “You don’t have to be Woodward and Bernstein to follow the money … the union between ESPN and the NBA – they may as well be a single corporation. Of course I think it has everything to do with protecting Lebron. Lebron is David Stern’s wet dream come true.”

Raab said after posting this blog entry Monday, he was told via email that the Heat were no longer giving him a credential. He emailed back asking why and is “still waiting for an email.”

Late yesterday, we called NBA Senior VP of Basketball communications, Tim Frank, asking for clarification. He said teams do credentialing for games, and the league handles bigger events like the All-Star game or the NBA Finals. When we asked specifically about Raab’s situation, he had something prepared: “There’s an expectation of professionalism on both sides in the team-media relationship. and the posts on Mr. Raab’s twitter account clearly fall short of that standard.”

Frank was probably talking about this tweet to LeBron over the weekend. And this one.

We’ll open it up to you guys: Did those tweets cross the line? Would you credential Raab?