By playing for Team USA, not only does LeBron James get to play international basketball at a high level, but he also gets to market himself directly to a lucrative region of the world.

``It is only going to help my business,'' James said. ``Once I knew the world games were going to be in Japan, I knew I was going to be on board.''

James is also taking Mandarin Chinese lessons with the goal of being able to conduct interviews in that language by 2008.