Kevin Love is currently serving the second game of a two-game suspension brought about when he stomped on Luis Scola's last week. That likely won't hurt him in the long-term as he attempts to prove he's the most-overlooked MVP candidate in the NBA, but it's not helping either.
SB Nation's Tom Ziller put out this week's 2012 NBA MVP Power Rankings and, in a not-so-surprising development, Love dropped from No. 5 to No. 7 following this week's Minnesota Timberwolves win over the Sacramento Kings, sans Love.
Love drops two spots not because the Wolves won without him -- beating the Kings at home is not exactly earth-shattering -- but because the SBNation.com NBA MVP Power Rankings abide by that universal code of combatant conduct: nothing in the face, nothing below the belt. (Luis Scola will never touch these Rankings for that reason; the statute of limitations on CP3's Julius Hodge pop has elapsed.)
Love should be be back on track next week considering he'll be back on the court, but it's still questionable as to whether Chris Paul should've received a lifetime ban considering his transgression was pretty severe.
For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves, check out Canis Hoopus. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NBA hub at SBNation.com/NBA.