LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul, the Clippers’ sure-fire Hall of Fame point guard, listed them off one after another.

“F-E-L-O-P-Z-D. D-E-F-P-O-T-E-C”

He recited the 20/25 and 20/20 lines on the eye chart in rapid succession. He didn’t pause to squint. He didn’t strain a single muscle on his face.

He made it – pardon the pun – look easy.

There was a small catch, though. Paul wasn’t reading from anything at all. There wasn’t an eye chart inside the Clippers practice facility.

He’d memorized the 15 letters, maybe in an effort to convince eye doctors he didn’t need to correct his vision.

“Somebody (over the years) might have said I needed contacts or glasses,” Paul said.

Until this past May, Paul never considered listening.

Six months later, he’s reading the fine print on water bottles 10 feet away. He’s reading street signs at night. And, in what might not be a coincidence, Paul is above his career numbers in every shooting category and making 3-pointers and free throws at a rate better than he had in his 11 previous NBA seasons.

Paul underwent LASIK eye surgery this summer as part of an offseason filled with medical procedures. In a span of three weeks, Paul had his hand operated on, his eyes fixed and a sports hernia repaired.

The LASIK, which was performed by Dr. Kerry Assil in Beverly Hills, caused Paul the most distress.

Despite years of telling reporters that his rolled ankles and sprained fingers would be “fine,” on Wednesday, Paul admitted the truth. He’s a hypochondriac.

“If something is wrong, I feel like I’m dying,” he said. “When I got the LASIK, they had to give me two Valiums. I was about to lay down and they (Paul imitates laser sound) … They tell you it’s going to be grainy for a couple of weeks. I had to put eye drops in for two weeks, four times a day. I was having panic attacks.

“I couldn’t sleep. These are your eyes. They get dry. I was stressed out.”

When talking about the surgery, which family members had been pushing him to get for years, Paul repeatedly says “These are your eyes” with disbelief in his voice because of how crazy the notion of laser surgery there seems to him.

And, when you’ve watched him play, it makes sense.

For years, Paul’s vision has been what’s helped separate him from the rest of the NBA. He’s averaged 9.9 assists per game, leading the league in that category four times. He’s always scanning the floor, looking for the open player or the perfect pass.

But, apparently, it would have been easier if he had put on a pair of readers.

“As long as I could see the rim,” he said, “I felt like I was cool.”

But the Paul family knew what LASIK could do. His father and brother both had the procedure during Paul’s rookie season, and they raved about the results. While they were seeing 20/20, Paul was struggling to see when he looked over at the bench.

“Everyone used to tell me I squinted on the court,” Paul said. “Like when (Coach) Doc (Rivers) was trying to get my attention to call a play, they’d say I squinted all the time.”

At his mother’s urging, Paul decided to put his fears, with the help of sedatives, to rest and allow a doctor to slice open his corneas with a laser and reshape his vision.

“It was probably the most nerve-wracking thing I ever did,” he said, adding that it helped that close friends LeBron James and Dwyane Wade previously had the procedure.

During his recovery, Paul was so concerned when anything was slightly off, he said he called his eye doctor almost daily for three straight weeks.

“My nerves, my anxiety,” he said. “Those are your eyes!”

Paul’s through the anxiety now and he’s an advocate for the procedure. He talked Indiana star Paul George through his recovery. On Wednesday, he sermonized on the advantages and marveled at his improvement.

When he opened his eyes the morning after the surgery, he knew what the rest of the NBA was about to find out.

“Oh my God,” he said. “… I can damn near read the fine print.”

Oh my God, indeed.

ALSO

Clippers rookie Brice Johnson, who has been out since the preseason with a herniated disc in his back, hopes to increase his rehabilitation to possibly running or on-court work in the next week. Johnson hasn’t done an on-court workout since the injury. … Forward Wesley Johnson will be out with a left heel injury until at least Saturday, Rivers said.

Contact the writer: dwoike@scng.com