In 14 NBA seasons, Chris Paul has made nine All-Star games. And, according to Pro Basketball Reference, he's one of five active players with a 99.99% probability of making the Hall of Fame whenever he decides to stop making All-Star games. (The others? LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Durant, which would round out a starting five that's almost as good at the Golden State Warriors.) Like many exceptional veteran athletes, Paul has a dialed-in daily routine. We called up the Houston Rockets point guard, and he laid out the habits, practices, and (extremely detailed) pregame superstitions that get him ready to play at a Hall of Fame level.

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Get that game face going early.

Our alarm goes off at 6:15 every day because [my wife and I] gotta get the kids ready for school. I just started this this summer: I try to get in the shower. I feel like it wakes me up. I get in the warm shower and I play "On Your Face" by Earth, Wind & Fire every day. Every single day. I've always been such a big Earth, Wind & Fire fan because my dad was when I was a kid. When we would have to dust the house and dust off my dad's speakers and clean up, that's what would be playin' all the time. In the first lyric of the song, it says, "Ain't it funny that the way you feel, shows on your face." It's like I want to get off to a good start. I think it just gets me in the right mindset.

I was watching the Netflix documentary Quincy, about Quincy Jones. At one point in the documentary, he said two things that you can't live without are water and music. I'm like that. I listen to music all day, every day. We have a speaker system in the bathroom. I moved from New Orleans to L.A. and L.A. to Houston, [and had] different houses. I tell my wife, "You can do any and every thing in the house. Just let me control the speakers, the music, and all that. I got that."

Turn your steam room into a zen den.

When I was in L.A., as soon as I got to the gym every day, I got in the steam room [for] 10-15 minutes. You can't have anything when you're in the steam room—no phone, no nothing. You gotta concentrate on your breathing. That's where you collect some of your best thoughts. That's how the shower is for me [too]. I start thinking about my day and everything that I got going on.

Sometimes, we can get a little too consumed in our devices. Me and my wife don't let our kids have their—we call them machines—we don't let 'em have their machines during the week. When we go to dinner, everybody puts their phone in the middle of the table, to make sure that we're still getting that interaction. Growing up, we went outside and played. So, [I'm] just trying to make sure that they're still being kids and not just sitting in front of a TV or iPad. Then, when Friday comes, the kids obviously look forward to getting them back.

CP3 is more than a nickname.

My dad's CP1. My brother's CP2. I'm CP3. We all got the same initials.

Three isn't just my basketball number. If I'm leaving to go to the game or going to the road, my daughter knows she's gonna kiss me three times. My wife is gonna kiss me three times. Same thing with my son—on the cheek, three times. Any time we leave one another, they know that.

[Then, before games,] after the national anthem, I get a cup of water and I drink three sips of it. I jump on the little sticky pad before I step on the court three times. Before the jump ball, I hit my back on the back stanchion, on the basket, three times. Before I run out of the locker room, I stand on the slant board three times, and one of my trainers, he yells out, "Warm it up, Chris!" And I say, "I'm about to." Then, he says, "Warm it up, Chris." And I say, "That's what I born to do." If I don't do it, I get very nervous.

This interview has been edited and condensed.