Fun makes a welcome change for the 25-year-old, who just suffered the "toughest year" of his NBA career, playing in only 45 games last season due to an assortment of injuries.
"It was tough, really tough," he says. "I'm an integral part of the team, I can't play 45 games in order to help my team win a championship.
"Injuries happen, but you can't let that control you, you have to bounce back. That's what I'm focused on now to make sure I have a great season next year."
Paul's friend and fellow superstar D-Wade had a similarly rough season in 2007-08, missing 31 games for the Miami Heat while fighting injury.
He bounced back in a big way the following year, helping Team USA win a gold medal in Beijing and putting up the best numbers of his career through 79 games.
It's an example Paul is eager to follow.
He says: "D-Wade is one of the guys I had an opportunity to talk to about my injuries. When D-Wade came back, he came back real strong and had a great year so hopefully I can do something like that."
While Paul is still recovering and will "not definitely play" in the FIBA World Championship later this summer, he fully expects to be ready for the start of the NBA season.
Not just ready, in fact, but ready with a chip the size of Eddy Curry on each of his broad shoulders.
"I've always got a point to prove, he says. "I feel like you shouldn't be playing if you don't have something to prove, and that's how I always approach the game."
Memo to the league: Watch Out. When firing on all cylinders, CP3 is arguably the best playmaker in the game.
Whether it's the All-NBA defence, tricky drives to the bucket or prodigious court vision, he is a giant handful and the primary catalyst for his team's success.
The Hornets struggled for much of the year with Paul glued to the sidelines and missed the playoffs for the first time in three seasons.
But when it's suggested that reaching the postseason might be the overriding goal next year, Paul snorts, breaking his cucumber-cool demeanour for just a second.
"No, playoffs is not the goal, it's the championship," he says. "The playoffs was my goal the first two years in the league, I used to say 'Man, we just want to make the playoffs', but that's not enough. No, just making it to the playoffs? That's not enough."
The Hornets have hired a fresh coach in Monty Williams, a former NBA journeyman and assistant, but a guy who has never been solely in charge.
Yet despite Paul's lofty aspirations for the team, his new coach's relative lack of experience doesn't concern him in the slightest.
He says: "All the coaches in the league, at one point, had a first time coaching so that doesn't worry me at all.
"He knows basketball, he's been around some great coaches - he's just been with Nate McMillan in Portland. One thing is, he knows the game, he played, so I think that definitely gives him an edge."
More concerning, however, is the unsettled ownership situation in New Orleans. The sale of the team from owner George Shinn to minority partner Gary Chouest has long been in the works, but a final deal remains elusive.
Paul says the situation concerns him "somewhat" but, carefully, gives a diplomatic take.
"Mr Shinn has been our owner for the whole time I've ever known anything about the Hornets and he's done an outstanding job," he says.
"But I'm not sure if he's going to keep the team or if he is going to sell it to Mr Chouest."
Paul is in town to rep his sponsor, Jordan Brand, and to "rededicate" the Jordan Legacy Court at the Lilian Baylis Old School Site in Lambeth, a court His Airness himself opened in 2006.
It's not just shoes and South London that Jordan and Paul have in common, though. Like Mike, CP3 grew up in North Carolina, battling his older brother in the back yard, shooting until the sun had set.
And like Mike, he has a competitive streak bordering on the pathological.
He says: "I don't care what it is, I want to win everything, always. I'm extremely competitive. Sometimes it can be a fault, you know, I get angry at times, but at the end of the day I think that what makes me, me, is that I want to win."
While feisty on the court, off it, he cuts a polished public figure and clearly a very likeable one.
The assorted media, organisers and coaches can't help but laugh when he jokes about catching up with the Queen as if they were old friends, and everyone is quick to listen when he emphasises the importance of community hubs such as Lilian Baylis.
And the kids gathered at his feet hang on his words like disciples with Jesus.
He tells them about the 61 points he scored in high school to honour his dead grandfather and the facial he served up on Dwight Howard in 2007.
"I don't need to dunk again after that," he says.
For a 6ft guard out of Wake Forest, Paul has certainly come a long way since arriving in the league five years ago.
His skill and hard work have led him to be considered among the league's elite and his uncommon maturity means he's about as down to earth as they come.
"I'm not Michael Jordan," he modestly tells his audience. "I wish I was, but I'm not."
The way the kids at Lilian Baylis look at him, he may as well be.
Michael Romyn
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Greg Tanner - Tuesday, June 29th
Come on...London is the media centre of the UK.
It's also a major world capital.
We're lucky to get these guys over at all...you really think they'd go for it if Jordan or Nike said to them "yeah, we're going to a place called Birmingham" or something? You need to be realistic.
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87 - Friday, June 25th
its funny how everything is kept in london
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We're not long into the most talked about off-season in NBA history and the rumour mill is doing what it does best - churning up wild conjecture. 
