Nets vs. Knicks: Spike Chooses Sides

With his near constant courtside presence, director-actor-superfan Spike Lee is almost as synonymous with the New York Knicks as Madison Square Garden, Hall of Fame player-turned-announcer Walt "Clyde" Frazier and a seemingly unending string of frustrating NBA seasons.

So it comes perhaps as no surprise to find out that Lee isn't dumping the blue-and-orange for a  anytime soon.

"NOT GONNA HAPPEN," The Brooklyn native's Twitter account read Saturday as to whether or not he would ever wear the Nets' jersey. The team will start their new existence at the come fall.

Lee's Twitter declaration of fealty to what Borough President Marty Markowitz routinely calls the "Manhattan Knicks" comes at a time of hard choices for many Brooklyn fans—with the potential of splitting husbands and wives, fathers and sons along an invisible line of basketball fandom.

For example, does one maintain loyalty to a team rooted on by fathers, grandfathers and, in some cases, great-grandfathers?

Or is the Brooklyn basketball fan's first priority one of allegiance to his or her borough?

No matter where one stands, the rivalry off the courts between the two teams is definitely ramping up.

In the past week, the Nets managed to hold on to point guard Deron Williams and picked up clutch jump shot specialist Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks.

Meanwhile, the Knicks recently signed a three-year $9 million deal for Jason Kidd, who led the New Jersey Nets to the NBA Finals twice in a row in the early 2000s.