Kyrie Irving breaks silence on his flat Earth theory criticism

Kyrie Irving is one of the most exciting players of his generation in the NBA. The eight-time All-Star has given fans no shortage of awe-inspiring highlights throughout his 14-year NBA career.

Irving is a fan-favorite on the court but has faced his share of backlash off the court. In 2017, after being traded to the Boston Celtics, Irving shared his belief that the Earth is flat as opposed to being spherical, drawing criticism and trolling from fans.

After rarely speaking on the matter since discussing it with UConn Huskies women's basketball head coach, Geno Auriemma, on his podcast, Irving broke his silence on the controversy in an appearance on Kai Cenat's live stream on Thursday.

"I got in so much trouble for that," Irving revealed. "The thing about it is that, in history, it's been said before."

Irving stated the main reason for all the backlash he faced from his comments was due to the impact it had on young kids.

Now in his third season with the Dallas Mavericks, Irving has mostly kept to himself during his time with the team, maturing into a leader. This season, he is averaging 24.5 points, 5.4 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Kyrie Irving explains flat Earth theory

Kyrie Irving spoke about his theory regarding the Earth being flat during his appearance on Geno Auriemma's podcast back in 2017. Irving was in his first season with the Celtics, just several games into the season at the point of his comments.

Irving revealed he didn't intend to discredit science and was simply spreading information regarding his belief.

"The whole intent behind it, coach, it wasn't to bash science. It wasn't to like, have the intent of starting a rage and be seen as this insane individual. When I started seeing comments and things about universal truths that I had known, I had questions."

Kyrie Irving continued to share what helped shape his belief in the flat Earth theory.

"When I started actually doing my own research and figuring out that there is no picture of the Earth, not one real picture of the Earth - and we haven't been back to the Moon since 1961 or 1969 - it becomes like a conspiracy too."