Please don’t overlook Richmond Shakespeare’s exceptional, sincere and very funny production of “King James” because you think it’s a play about sports.

It definitely is a play about sports, basketball specifically, and the often unfathomable depth of feeling that sports fandom can inspire.

But this finely crafted and impeccably performed staging of playwright Rajiv Joseph’s heartfelt script brings to light profound insights and emotional truths that go far beyond the throwing of balls through hoops.

Using the story of two Cleveland natives who persist through superstar LeBron James’s on-again/off-again relationship with their home team, Joseph explores the peculiar dynamics of male friendship. We see the weird ways connections are formed, the choices made about what to reveal when, and the slow build of bonds that become unbreakable.

Thanks to a couple of actors at the top of their game, coached by all-star director Rick St. Peter, “King James” delivers an experience as entertaining as a buzzer-beating three point shot.

The play begins in 2004 with Shawn (Joshua Carter), an aspiring writer and diehard Cleveland Cavaliers fan, meeting with Matt (Joshua Mullins), a wine bar owner reluctantly selling his season tickets to the team’s home games. What starts as a negotiation about the sales price slowly gives way to curiosity, grudging respect, and wary camaraderie.

The subsequent 12 years of their relationship play out in four scenes, like the four quarters of a basketball game. In that time, LeBron leaves Cleveland, then comes back, and the Cavaliers ultimately win an NBA championship.

Matt and Shawn go through a series of ups and downs in that dozen years as well, in ways nicely accentuated by costume designer Anna Bialkowski, most subtly in the sneakers each character wears.

Even as their lives become more intertwined, both men show an uneasy resistance to full transparency. Their contrasting reactions to LeBron’s departure and return reflect more nuanced views related to loyalty, family and even race. A casual remark from Matt (who is white) prompts Shawn (who is Black) to question aspects of their friendship heretofore unchallenged.

The final scene shows the pair on the verge of full estrangement until revelations from Shawn reinforce how integral each has become to the other. Never sentimental and always animated by the authentic energy of guys shooting the shit, each scene unfolds with both bracing immediacy and knockabout good humor.

Both of these actors have recently gained accolades working with Richmond Shakespeare. Carter won a Richmond Theatre Community Circle award playing “Hamlet” in 2024, Mullins shared in last year’s Best Ensemble award for “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged).”

Here, both shed any Elizabethan affectations to fully inhabit complex contemporary characters. Off-hand adornments like Carter’s rising note of defensiveness on the word “No!” or Mullins adding a short raspberry to a dismissive comment are evidence of actors deeply in sync with their roles. Alternating between a dance and a boxing match, the synergy between the two is enthralling.

St. Peter’s hand in making this engine hum is evident throughout. In a couple short vignettes, the lights dim, collapsing focus on a character during an especially personal moment (lighting design by Tristan Ketcham). The show’s pace never flags and the sound design (by St. Peter) instills a period-specific mood using songs of the time.

In offering “King James,” Richmond Shakespeare continues its fascinating expansion into recently written work. One could argue this production relates to the next show on their schedule, “Macbeth:” Shakespeare reportedly wrote “the Scottish play” to appeal to the ascendant King James VI of Scotland, who would become James I of England.

More compelling than that nominal connection is how “King James” shares a powerful understanding of the human condition with the best of Shakespeare. While America contends with bullies who seek to define modern masculinity, this production peers into the opaque interior lives of men, finding fear and disappointment, hope and ambition, and an encouraging capacity for friendship.

Richmond Shakespeare’s production of “King James” is running at Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Theatre Gym, 114 West Broad St. through Feb. 1. Tickets and information available at https://richmondshakespeare.org/.