The Cleveland Cavaliers won the National Basketball Association’s draft lottery for the second-consecutive year, giving them the first overall pick in next month’s entry draft.
The Cavaliers have struggled on the court since losing LeBron James to Miami in 2010 but they are hoping to make up for it by building through youth.
This is also the third time in four years they will pick first and they had to overcome some big odds to get that coveted top prize. Heading into Tuesday’s draft lottery they had a less than two percent chance of getting the first pick.
Cleveland took Australian-born all-star guard Kyrie Irving in 2011 and selected Canadian forward Anthony Bennett last year.
It’s only the second time under the current format, which was instituted in 1994, that the team with the ninth-best odds earned the number one pick.
Chicago did it in the 2008 lottery to select future league MVP Derrick Rose.
Milwaukee and Philadelphia finished second and third in Tuesday’s drawing. The Bucks had the worst record and so the best chance of coming out on top in the draft lottery at 25 percent.
This is considered to be a talent-rich draft with two Kansas players, Andrew Wiggins, of Canada, and Joel Embiid, of Cameroon, and Duke’s Jabari Parker, of the US, all being hailed as potential first-overall picks.
The 2014 draft will be held at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on June 26.