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Fantasy basketball: Is King James still fantasy royalty?

LeBron James is doing several things better this season -- his 21st -- than in years past. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

All-time NBA leading scorer LeBron James is approaching an unfathomable 40,000 regular-season points, and fantasy basketball investors have certainly loved that particular ingredient of his statistics for two decades.

Then again, for many of us, James stood out because of his passing. James entered the league a relatively raw teenager, blessed with scoring ability but also rare and obvious on-court vision, and regardless of which NBA positions he qualified for in ESPN's game (currently SF/PF, but previously the guard positions, and one season as a center), he always piled on the assists, too.

James, 39, and in his 21st NBA campaign, enters this weekend averaging better than 27 PPG during the regular season for his career, seventh all time. This is wildly impressive, of course, but many in the fantasy world have long appreciated the 7.4 APG just as much.

Everyone scores. Not everyone passes.