Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving explained his theory on whether the Earth is flat in an interview with UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma last week.

Appearing on Auriemma's Holding Court podcast (h/t Nicole Yang of Boston.com), Irving said the following on the subject:

"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, like I had questions.

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

Per Hayden Bird of Boston.com, Irving said, "The Earth is flat. ... I'm telling you, it's right in front of our faces. They lie to us."

In September, Irving was asked about his belief on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Richwhere he essentially said he was trolling the media:

"Look, look. Here it is. All I want to do is be able to have that open conversation. It was all an exploitation tactic. It literally spun the world—your guy's world—it spun it into a frenzy and proved exactly what I thought it would do in terms of how all this works. It created a division, or, literally stand up there and let all these people throw tomatoes at me, or have somebody think I'm somehow a different intellectual person because I believe that the earth is flat and you think the world is round. It created exactly that.

"It became like, because I think different, does that knock my intellectual capacity or the fact that I can think different things than you? That was the intent behind it. Do your own research, don't come to me and ask me. At the end of the day, you're going to feel and believe the way you want to feel. But don't knock my life over that. When I do something, I know my intent. And it proved what I thought it would."

Based on Irving's comments during the interview with Auriemma, however, it is unclear exactly where Irving stands on the flat versus round debate.

One thing that is apparent is that Irving is playing some solid basketball for his new team with per-game averages of 21.7 points, 5.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds.

Boston is also tied with the Orlando Magic atop the Eastern Conference with a 5-2 record. It hosts Sacramento on Wednesday.