For a franchise that is 3-36 in its last 39 games, any victory is a reason to celebrate. But what the Minnesota Timberwolves saw Wednesday night gave the struggling franchise hope.

Michael Beasley blew past his previous career high of 30 points in the third quarter, ripping the Sacramento Kings for 42 points as the T’Wolves won their first road game of the year and just their second victory overall, downing Sacramento 98-89.

Beasley hit on 17-of-31 shots from the floor, his best game with Minnesota since joining the T’Wolves following an offseason trade from Miami.

Minnesota won for just the fourth time since Feb. 8. Sebastian Telfair backed Beasley with 16 points and Wesley Johnson added 12 for Minnesota.

The T’Wolves play host to the New York Knicks on Friday night at the Target Center.

Forgive the Minnesota Timberwolves if they already are sick of facing the Southeast Division. Consider this week:

Tuesday, the T’Wolves headed to Miami to face the juggernaut Heat, picked by many to advance to the NBA Finals. The result: an ugly 129-97 loss.

Wednesday, the Florida swing continued at Orlando, and the beat-down continued as well. The Magic scored 78 points in the first half, handing Minnesota its worse loss in franchise history, a 128-86 thrashing.

Back home tonight, it doesn’t get any easier for the T’Wolves. Minnesota plays host to Atlanta, which is 5-0 and is the only unbeaten team in the Eastern Conference.

The T’Wolves are 1-4 on the season and face a three-game road trip starting Sunday at Houston. On the trip, Minnesota will see another team currently unbeaten on the year, the Los Angeles Lakers.

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It’s an interesting trade for the Timberwolves considering how well Jefferson played since being acquired from Boston in the Kevin Garnett trade.

Koufos gives the Timberwolves another center but a much bigger project who may or may not ever develop into a quality player.

The two first round picks obviously hold significant value, but they will likely be low picks because the Jazz are usually a pretty good team.

Minnesota felt that Jefferson was expendable because of the recent trade with the Miami Heat that brought in forward Michael Beasley.

According to David Kahn, trading it is no longer one they are considering.

The team president said on Friday that moving the pick is “highly, highly, highly, highly unlikely.” The team had been widely rumored to be trying to move up in the draft, possibly to the No. 2 position in order to draft Ohio State’s Evan Turner. Apparently, that isn’t going to happen.This could be posturing by Kahn, though. It’s known that the Philadelphia 76ers, who own the second pick, aren’t a natural fit for Turner’s services because they already have guard/forwards in the same mold, like Andre Iguodala. But Turner is the consensus second-best player in the draft, and would be a great fit on Minnesota.

Just as Kahn might be trying to convince the Sixers that the team is satisfied with its draft position, the Sixers have been saying the same type of thing about Turner. In trade negotiations, perception is just as important as reality. But make no mistake: Philadelphia could certainly use a big man like Derrick Favors or DeMarcus Cousins instead of Turner, and Minnesota has no need for another big, plodding post player.

Games or not, the Timberwolves would do well to add Turner. He’d help the team now and in the future, filling a big need.

Rubio opted to stay over in Europe and play professional basketball last year instead of joining the Timberwolves. Minnesota drafted him with one of their two selections very early in the first round of the NBA Draft.

It is rumored that Rubio is not fond of Minnesota or their franchise and wants to be traded if he plays in the NBA.

The Timberwolves have rejected such notions so far, but are going to have to get something in return for Rubio if he continues to play over in Europe.