Why Luka Doncic lucked out after hitting Colin Sexton in the groin

Luka Doncic was unceremoniously tossed in a game against the Hawks on Sunday night after smacking Colin Sexton in the groin with a closed fist.

Knowing what was going down immediately after, Luka’s only defense was to employ the “regretful kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar” stare, and hoping it would lead to leniency from the referees who were discussing the hit.

It worked. Doncic was assessed with a flagrant two, rather than a technical foul. After the game he said it was a total accident, and didn’t mean to hit Sexton.

“After I saw the video, I knew I hit him, but it wasn’t nothing on purpose,” Doncic said. “I think that kind of stuff happens a lot in games, but I don’t know. That’s my explanation. It obviously wasn’t on purpose. It was just two guys fighting for a rebound, I guess.”

I’m not sure how Sexton sustained a full closed-fist shot to the groin like this without doubling over and crying like I would, but at least show this video to anyone who claims the NBA is full of floppers. Here’s a guy who took a punch to the floppers, and didn’t so much as wince.

Shock can do weird things to the human body.

As silly as this may all seem, Luka is getting close to really hurting the Mavericks down the stretch for his recent transgressions. The Mavericks, sitting at No. 5 in the Western Conference playoff standings, are trying to avoid falling to No. 7 and needing to qualify for the playoffs via the play-in tournament. Luka’s ejection on Sunday night meant his season total for technical fouls remains at 15. If he sustains one more tech he’ll face an automatic suspension during the most important time of the Mavericks’ season. Hopefully he realized just how close the bullet he dodged was, and maybe think twice before hitting someone in the groin again.