• Dallas Morning News/AP, Thursday, June 7, 2007 11:30 AM

The playoff performance of Cleveland Cavaliers 22-year-old superstar LeBron James--who almost single-handedly beat the Detroit Pistons in double overtime on May 31--will be memorialized in a black-and-white commercial that will air during the NBA finals. It shows James in slow motion, dunking on the Pistons in the first overtime. As he soars, the late gospel singer Marion Williams soulfully sings "I Shall Be Released."

James has stated that he wants to become a "global icon" and the world's first billionaire athlete. His exposure in the finals will take him beyond basketball fans, helping him reach a mass audience. It's an important leap in selling Nike sneakers to consumers who will buy them as a lifestyle purchase, not to run up and down a basketball court, says Paul Swangard, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

The finals will be viewed, starting tonight, in 205 countries in 46 languages. Nike is looking to expand James' influence in Asia by launching a version of his signature shoe there, the first time it has ever done so overseas, says Brian Fairben, Nike's business manager for James. The company's next growth market for James is Europe.

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