When the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years this summer, one New York family decided to make the moment permanent — in their newborn son’s name.
Yvonne Gonzalez-Bradford and her husband Vance were expecting their first child when the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs in five games to capture the NBA Finals, ending a title drought that had stretched back to 1973. The couple named their son Knickson Fyve Bradford.
The Bradfords told TODAY.com that before the Knicks’ title run, they had picked out other names for the baby: Prestige Wisdom if he was a boy, and Lady Victoria if the baby turned out to be a girl. But the Knicks’ championship changed their plans.
“You know how when something happens so well in your favor, you don’t want to jinx it?” Vance said. “I was just like, ‘Yep! Absolutely. That’s it!'”
The middle name, Fyve, is a nod to “Knicks in Five,” the rallying cry fans adopted after the team closed out the Finals against the Spurs in five games.
Knickson was born Aug. 8, weighing eight pounds, eight ounces — on his mother Yvonne’s birthday.
“We wanted to have a very strong and firm name that would lead to a cool life,” Vance told TODAY.com. “Knickson Fyve is definitely our motto, Knickson Fyve forever!”
The Bradford family’s connection to the Knicks runs deeper than this year’s title. Vance’s mother worked as a scorekeeper for the 1972-73 Knicks team, which won the franchise’s last championship before this year’s squad, led by Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, ended the drought.
Brunson addressed a sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd Tuesday night before the Knicks opened their 2026-27 season against LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers, thanking fans for their support throughout the playoff run. Among those fans now permanently tied to the franchise: a newborn boy whose name will forever mark the night New York finally got its championship back.
