WATCH: 'The Enforcer' James Johnson Brings His Black Belt To Mavs

WATCH: 'The Enforcer' James Johnson Brings His Black Belt To The Dallas Mavs - And Nobody Will Ever Mess With Luka Doncic Again

DALLAS - Somebody slapped the nickname "Bloodsport'' on the 6-8, 250-pound power forward James Johnson, and while it hasn't necessarily stuck, it absolutely fits.

“I don’t want to seem like that guy,” Johnson has said about his decade-long reputation as an "enforcer.'' “But ... I'd definitely put the beats on someone. But I don’t really have to. It’s the league and it gets touchy and you get your feelings (hurt) but at the end of the day they’re not going to do nothing.”

Opponents rarely challenge Johnson - acquired by the Dallas Mavericks in a spider-web trade - because in addition to being a capable basketball player, he is a second-degree black belt in karate who compiled a record of 20-0 as a kickboxer. 

“I’m sure there’s someone out there in this world who can beat me,'' said Johnson, whose parents and eight siblings are also black belts. "But I haven’t met him yet.''

In Johnson's best statistical NBA season, in 2016-17 in Miami, he averaged 12.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per while playing 27 minutes per game. In Dallas, he surely won't be asked to put up those sort of numbers.

He will be asked to help the Mavs "toughen up.'' He will be asked to make sure Luka Doncic's foes don't take advantage of the first-team All-NBA star.

It's not, by the way, that Doncic doesn't stand up for himself. But as coach Rick Carlisle has often said, "You can't have a roster full of just milk-drinkers.'' Dallas' opening-offseason week of additions, especially wing stoppers Josh Richardson and first-round rookie Josh Green and now Johnson - speak to that.

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A couple of years ago, Johnson was ranked in a tie for fourth in a recent poll of NBA general managers for "toughest player in the NBA." Johnson playfully dismissed the poll.

I don't see no other person in the league that can give me a run if it came down to anything else,'' he said, "what I'm really good at.''

Johnson, 33, will be with his ninth team in a decade once he suits up for Dallas. ... and with his third team in a few days, as Minnesota this week traded him to OKC, which dealt him to Dallas in a swap that sends out Justin Jackson and Delon Wright. Johnson's much-traveled status can be interpreted as his expendability ... or as his desirability.

His self-scouting report: "Just hard-nosed. Strong, box out, don't quit on plays," he said. "There's a lot of different definitions of toughness, I think, but depending on the coach or depending on the player. There's different kind of toughness. 'Basketball toughness' is definitely different than a 'fighting toughness.'"

via ADIAZ@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Dallas will happily take both of those traits. And Dallas' opponents will only cautiously challenge the Mavs in a physical way.

 "I don't think anyone in the league fears that I do martial arts or my record in UFC or kickboxing.,'' Johnson has said. "I don't think no one fears that, and they shouldn't – until they're face-to-face with it."