Good Night, French Prince

Thus ends the Frank Ntilikina Civil War that has raged on between Knicks fans for checks notes four years. Holy shit, I could've sworn Frank has been on the team for no less than a decade at this point as he somehow avoided the waiver wire after each new front office regime took over at Madison Square Garden. Most basketball heads would say renouncing the rights to a 23-year-old defensive first player with octopus limbs that just led his team to the brink of defeating USA Basketball in the gold medal game of the Olympics is a crazy move at best and an awful move at worst. Especially one that has shown this type of promise.

But I have to believe that Leon Rose knows what he is doing since pretty much every single thing he has done outside of letting Elfrid Payton anywhere near last year's roster has panned out, including the full details of the Nerlens Noel's deal that just came out.

Nonetheless, it still hurts to lose our beautiful baby Frankie Smokes. Some Knicks fans may have never learned to spell his last name or held a grudge for years that the Knicks didn't draft Dennis Smith Jr. instead (whose Knicks legacy will be getting Derrick Rose to New York for a second go round). But I personally will always have a warm place in my soul for the man that did as good a job putting the clamps on Luka as possible in the first two games against The Latvian Snake That Shall Not Be Named, which directly led to the two biggest victories the Knicks had in years until last season.

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Along with him refusing to back down to LeBron James a year after Bron Bron was flipping water bottles on the MSG floor like a rebellious 12-year-old.

Truly the stuff New York legends are made of.

So best of luck wherever you land next, Frankie. I didn't get to use this meme as much as I would've liked, but I'll save it after you return to the Knicks after winning multiple championships with whatever team learns how to use you correctly.

Hopefully that team is on this side of the Atlantic Ocean