Everyone had a good laugh back in February when Kyrie Irving came out as a flat-Earth truther during an appearance on Richard Jefferson and Channing Frye's podcast, and his steadfast belief in our planet's lack of curvature has continued to be a source of jokes.

One group isn't laughing, however, and that would be middle school science teachers. It turns out that Irving is quite influential to the teens, and has converted some of them into believing the Earth is in fact flat. Which, of course, is a source of consternation for science teachers no matter what level. Via NPR:

She tells her students -- like Nick Gurol, whose middle-schoolers believe the Earth is flat -- that, as hard as they try, science teachers aren't likely to change a student's misconceptions just by correcting them. Gurol says his students got the idea of a flat planet from basketball star Kyrie Irving, who said as much on a podcast. "And immediately I start to panic. How have I failed these kids so badly they think the Earth is flat just because a basketball player says it?" He says he tried reasoning with the students and showed them a video. Nothing worked. "They think that I'm part of this larger conspiracy of being a round-Earther. That's definitely hard for me because it feels like science isn't real to them."

This whole saga keeps getting more and more incredible.

Kyrie saying the Earth is flat is hilarious, but this would definitely be a tough spot for a middle school science teacher. Kids generally think teachers are lame, especially in middle school. There's no way a teacher is going to be able to compete with an insanely good basketball player when it comes to influencing some students.