Kyrie Irving has not played basketball since back in March, missing the entirety of the Boston Celtics' impressive postseason run that saw them fall one win short of making the NBA Finals. It's tough for any elite athlete to have to sit out due to injury, especially when that means missing the playoffs. But it may have been easier for Irving than most, because of his various interests outside of sports. 

Irving, if you haven't figured out by now, is an interesting guy, with some interesting ideas. The one that has gained the most traction over the past year or so are his thoughts on the shape of the Earth. He's talked about it on numerous occasions. Originally everyone thought he believed the Earth was flat, then people started to think he was just trolling and eventually it seemed he was just putting ideas out there or something. 

But now, Irving has offered his most extensive thoughts yet on the issue. And as it turns out, he doesn't know what shape the Earth is, but enjoys the debate. Also, as he's stated before, he thinks it's important for everyone to do research. Via the New York Times:

National Public Radio did a story about this and there was a middle-school teacher who couldn't convince his students the Earth was round because the students believed you.

[Laughter]

Are you aware of that? If so, that would be, in theory, a concrete example of where those words might matter, right?

Oh yeah, no, and I absolutely agree, which is why research and why history has shown that even having opposing sides — I mean, history has shown even back then, our biggest scholars did think the Earth was flat. It didn't just spark out of anywhere and then everyone just goes into their own groups. Definitely different scientists have come along and proved the law of gravity. Everything that science breeds, and you have specific scientists that are giving all this information. I wanted to open up the conversation, like, "Hey man, do your own research for what you want to believe in." Our educational system is flawed. History has been changed throughout so much time. I literally got that from what they did to Nikola Tesla of what he was trying to do for just an incredible world. I could just go on and on about this stuff, man.

You've been coy about what you really believe so I'm hoping you'll clarify here. Do you or do you not believe the Earth is flat? Or do you not know?

That's what I'm asking you. No, no, no. Can you openly admit that you know the Earth is constitutionally round? Like, you know that for sure? Like, I don't know. I was never trying to convince anyone that the world is flat. I'm not being an advocate for the world being completely flat. No, I don't know. I really don't. It's fun to think about though. It's fun to have that conversation. It is absolutely fun because people get so agitated and mad. They're like, "Hey man, you can't believe that, man. It's religious, man. It's just science. You can't believe anything else. O.K.?" Cool, well, explain to me. Give me what you've known about the Earth and your research, and I love it. I love talking about it.

I don't want to misrepresent what you're saying here. So just to clarify. You don't know whether the Earth is round. You don't know whether it's flat. You're just open to having the discussion about it.

Absolutely. It's fun for me, man. It's mentally stimulating to hear because there absolutely are scientists or engineers that have said, "Hey man, I believe the Earth is flat." But then of course, utilizing an exploitation tactic of utilizing my name and who I am, and all of a sudden it turns into a bigger thing. Which is fine. That's the way our society works. It is what it is. I don't mind it.

OK, at this point it's pretty clear Kyrie is just kind of "out there" or however you want to put it. It's not that he seems dumb -- quite the opposite -- but he's clearly operating with a very unique mindset. 

There are people who will get upset by his comments on this stuff, including middle school science teachers, but he's not trying to be malicious. He's curious, and a bit of a contrarian. And sometimes that leads to him saying things that will make people mad. That's just how it's going to be with Kyrie.