This play by Rajiv Joseph who wrote Guards at the Taj  is about two men bonding over their love of basketball.  The King James of the title is not a Scottish monarch but 6 feet 9 inches basketball star LeBron James who brought success to his home team in Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The two protagonists are Matt (Sam Mitchell) who wants to open a basketball themed bar and restaurant and Shawn (Enyi Okoronkwo) who is answering a word of mouth tip to buy some Cav tickets from Matt.  

In 2004, they meet in the bar where Matt is working and start negotiations for the batch of tickets.  The season tickets have been given to Matt by his father but he needs to sell them to pay a debt.  Shawn has nothing like the amount of money Matt is asking but persists in offering as much as he can afford.  The two men discuss their up coming basketball hero LeBron James comparing him to Michael Jordan in the basketball stakes of greatness.

Matt has an awkward relationship with his parents.  His father refused to pay to send him to St Ignatius, the Catholic school, Shawn went to on a scholarship, and it seems they always criticise him.  Shawn comes from a poorer family and has three jobs, in a law firm, clearing tables and writing short stories.  The play is divided into quarters and the second quarter is six and a half years later.  Shawn hadn’t thought through buying pairs and having no-one to go with to the 19 games and we can assume he took Matt and they became friends.