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NBA star Kyrie Irving believes Earth is flat

Commentary: On a podcast, the Cleveland Cavaliers point guard suggests people should do their own research.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.


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A flat-out flat Earther.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Many people have private beliefs -- very interesting beliefs -- that they choose not to make public for fear of being ridiculed.

It's easy, therefore, to admire Cleveland Cavaliers point guard and NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving for fully expressing his views about the state of the world. Or, more accurately, about the shape of the Earth.

Appearing on a podcast with teammates Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye, Irving expounded, around 16 minutes into the show, on many scientific subjects.

Among them was the apparent fact that Neil Armstrong's footprints on the moon look very different from the shape of his boots.

Irving said he believes in aliens. He also believes the Earth is flat.

He said humans need to make their own minds up. About his belief that the world is flat, he said, "This is not even a conspiracy theory."

Oh, good. We've had enough of those lately.

As far as Irving is concerned, the evidence is clear: "It's right in front of our faces. I'm telling you, it's right in front of our faces. They lie to us."

"They" seemingly being those who control the information. At least he didn't use the term "fake news," nor even "fake science."

He did, though, offer his own science.

"If you really think about it from the landscape of the way we travel, the way we move, and the fact that -- can you really think of us rotating around the sun and all planets aligned, rotating in specific dates, being perpendicular with what's going on with these planets?" he said.

Apparently, "the truth is right there. You've just got to go searching for it."

Well, I Googled pictures of the Earth and it does seem to mightily resemble the shape of a basketball. Might Irving, who briefly attended Duke, have just not seen those pictures?

Neither he nor the Cavaliers immediately responded to a request for comment.

Irving is not alone among the famous flat-Earth believers. Last year, rapper B.o.B enjoyed a contentious scientific Twitter discussion with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson over B.o.B's well-rounded belief that the Earth is a pancake.

Still, you might think Irving was joking. I might think it too. He claims he's serious. He repeated his solid flat-Earthist stance to ESPN's Arash Markazi.

"I've seen a lot of things that my educational system has said that was real that turned out to be completely fake," he told Markazi, with the occasional smile. "I don't mind going against the grain in terms of my thoughts."

Irving wasn't done with his scientific theories. He also told Markazi that no one really knows what dinosaurs looked like.

"They find one bone and make up 98 percent of it digitally," he revealed.

It's healthy to know that there are still scientific bones of contention.