Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

LOS ANGELES — Rumors and speculation could not touch Chris Paul — if they ever could — not here, not on a day like this.

The Rockets guard, surrounded by his family in a break in the Go Hoop Day celebrations he co-founded, never seemed more comfortable, more in control, talking about his vision for the event and recognized by the city of Los Angeles for driving it.

He had briefly addressed his place with the Rockets and future between portions of the clinics held Sunday at Crete Academy. But there was one more point to make.

“I never asked for a trade,” Paul said. “I never demanded a trade.”

He did not seem angry about the reports that he had, in part because he had nearly completed the day’s events on a near-perfect Southern California afternoon. He had stepped away for a place on nearby picnic tables, surrounded by his large family, munching on a plant-based burger from one of the event’s sponsors, Beyond Meat, as Paul completed his 11th day since becoming a vegan.

By then, the day’s celebration of basketball might have made it difficult to get too worked up over the offseason rumor mill. Paul was much more effusive about that cause, but he briefly addressed speculation that he wants to leave the Rockets and that there is a rift with star backcourt mate James Harden.

“I’ll be in Houston,” Paul said. “I’m happy about that. I’m very happy about that. I’m good.”

Though there have been reports that Paul’s representatives had asked that he be traded, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said last week that neither Paul nor his representatives requested a trade and denied that there is a rift between Paul and Harden.

When asked Sunday if he needed to work things out with Harden or the Rockets organization as a whole, Paul was far less specific, but indicated any issues are with ending the season with a loss.

“There’s only team that wins at the end of the year, you know what I mean?” Paul said. “Since I went to Houston, from day one, it’s been about winning games. It’s always about winning games.”

With that, Paul moved on to the next station in the clinics underway on the Nipsey Hussle Basketball Court, just as similar events were held across the country Sunday.

“The message is just giving the people an opportunity to express what Go Hoop means to them,” Paul said. “The game of basketball changed my life, and I’m sure not just my life. It gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of people, travel. It taught me about relationships, friendship. It’s cool to be out here, to have fun with these kids.”

Paul co-founded Go Hoop Day with Game Seven Marketing owner Justin Leonard as a global basketball holiday with more than 40 events similar to Los Angeles’.

“Everybody, everybody is connected to this game in some way or form,” Paul said in his comments at the event. “There’s people that play other sports. Everybody thinks they got a jump shot. If you’re sitting there working at a desk in an office and the trash can is over there and you got a piece of paper, you’re going to walk over and put in there. Heck no. You’re going to try to shoot it.

“This game, man, for me, it changed my life. I’ve been hooping since I was 5 years old. I’m 34 years old now, in the NBA and I get a chance to play basketball every day and say that’s my way of life. I’m from North Carolina and that game brought me all the way here to South Central L.A. How crazy is that? It shows you hard work in this game can take you a lot of places.”

That was the message Paul said he hoped to spread, saying the day’s clinic, appearance and 3-on-3 tournament were part of the community effort to go with the message about basketball’s “power to bring people together.”

“This is a concept Chris and I have been talking about for about three years,” Leonard said. “We had a vision. The game means so much to me. It means so much to Chris. We wanted to create day that could bring together the world around the game of basketball. This was a way of giving back and giving thanks. Every year, we’re going to try to grow it.

“Chris is an incredibly passionate basketball player. To me, you can’t find somebody that is better aligned with the ethos and what this day is all about than Chris.”

With that in mind, it was easy to dismiss rumors as unable to distress him.

“It’s cool,” Paul said. “I’m good.”

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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