Secaucus, N.J. ? The Cleveland Cavaliers hit the LeBron James jackpot.

The Cavaliers won the NBA draft lottery Thursday night, giving them the right to make the first overall selection in the June 26 draft. They’re expected to stay in Ohio and choose James, the 6-foot-8 high school phenom from Akron.

“We don’t know who we are going to pick,” Cavaliers owner Gordon Gund quipped. He later held up a Cleveland jersey with James’ name embroidered on the back and his No. 23.

The Memphis Grizzlies got the second selection, but that pick goes to Detroit. The Denver Nuggets will pick third.

Cleveland and Denver had the best chance of landing the top pick. Each team had 225 pingpong balls out of the 1,000 available after finishing tied for the worst record in the league at 17-65.

NBA draft order on page 9C.