Silver: Irving 'provocative' with flat-Earth theory, but reiterates belief in sphere

Perhaps the dumbest greatest subplot of NBA All-Star weekend has been Kyrie Irving's public venture into his belief of the flat-Earth theory. And because everybody's talking about it, commissioner Adam Silver was asked about the view during his annual All-Star news conference Saturday evening.

"Kyrie and I went to the same college," Silver said, speaking of Duke University. "He may have taken some different courses than I did."

Related: Kyrie questions why people care that he thinks Earth is flat

Silver then turned serious, suggesting that Irving is merely making a statement about a tendency among many in contemporary culture to reject well-known facts.

"As he made clear today he was trying to be provocative and it was effective," Silver said. "I think it was a larger comment on the sort of the whole fake news debate that's going on right now ... and it led to a larger discussion."

Then, Silver felt compelled to summarize the situation with a core belief.

"I personally believe the world is round."