Irving: Earth’s shape up for debate

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS

Kyrie Irving is the point guard for the world champions.

Whether that’s the round world or the flat world is not exactly clear.

The Cleveland point guard made headlines in recent days when he questioned whether the Earth is round, first making the remarks on a podcast and then discussing them again at All-Star weekend — where they have become the talk of New Orleans.

“Out of all the podcast, that’s what you took out of it, the flat Earth?” Kyrie asked reporters who tried after the Eastern Conference practice on Saturday to pin him down on whether he genuinely believes it. “The fact that it’s a social phenomenon, that Kyrie thinks the world is flat, is hilarious. ... Does it matter to you that I believe the world is flat?”

Irving stated that, in his opinion, “It really doesn’t matter.” Then he added, perhaps facetiously, “The fact that it’s a conversation, I’m glad it got people talking like this.”

Irving got some support from Golden State’s Draymond Green, who defended those who might call Irving’s stance something less than solid.

“It’s just his opinion,” Green said. “It’s hard to call someone’s opinions crazy. That’s what he thinks.”

Told that there is photo evidence that the Earth is in fact round, Green offered this response: “Who’s to say that picture is telling the truth? ... I’m not saying I think it’s flat. I don’t know. But it could be.”

LeBron James was so amused by the flat-Earth talk that he yelled over to Irving’s nearby spot during an interview session Saturday.

“Kyrie, the earth is flat, right?” James shouted.

“Yeah,” came the reply from Irving.

“That’s news,” James said. “So there we go.”

NBA GOING BACK TO AFRICA

The NBA is going back to Africa.

The league and the National Basketball Players Association announced Saturday that NBA Africa Game 2017 will be held on Aug. 5 in Johannesburg. It’s the second time the NBA is playing on that continent, after a sold-out event there in 2015.

Among the players planning to take part so far are Orlando’s Bismack Biyombo, Portland’s CJ McCollum and Denver’s Emmanuel Mudiay.

The game will have a Team Africa vs. Team World format and will support of UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and SOS Children’s Villages South Africa.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says going back to South Africa “is part of the league’s continued commitment to bring the authentic NBA experience to fans around the world.”

MELO MISSES OUT ON VACATION

Carmelo Anthony was looking forward to being somewhere other than New Orleans this weekend.

The New Knicks’ prolific scorer was certainly not suffering from All-Star envy when he was initially left off of this season’s Eastern Conference roster. In fact, Anthony conceded after an All-Star practice on Saturday that he was “a little jealous” of friends and family he’d planned to join on a short vacation to Cuba and Puerto Rico during nearly a week off from the regular season.