BRIAN BABINEAU—NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

LeBron James, 23, Basketball

LeBron James pictures himself on the Beijing medal stand, gold draping his gargantuan chest. "It's going to be like waking up on Christmas Day," he says. James plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He led the NBA in scoring this season and became the youngest player in NBA history to score 10,000 career points. He has earned more than $165 million in salary and endorsements.

The U.S. team features stars like James, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade. Still, over the past six years, U.S. teams have gagged, falling to countries like Argentina and Greece. But hoops is America's gig: the U.S. has won 12 of the 15 Olympic gold medals, excluding the one awarded during the boycotted 1980 Games. James has spent three years prepping for this moment. If his team loses in Beijing, it will hurt. "For us, it's now or never," he says. "It's the gold, or it's failure."

--By Sean Gregory