LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul retired in February after 21 NBA seasons and will continue running his AAU program and elite basketball camps, his brother and business partner CJ Paul said. The NBA's No. 2 all-time assists leader ended his final season with the LA Clippers in early December in Atlanta, departing the team.

"Chris is going to stop playing in the NBA after this year, but he'll continue to have an AAU program and do these camps," CJ Paul said. "He'll continue to have his input and imprint on the next generation."

Since 2008, Paul has mentored nearly 2,000 players through his elite basketball camp for high schoolers, his other camps and combines, his AAU team Team CP3, and a leadership program. One hundred NBA players have attended one of his camps as a camper, counselor, or workout participant, and 31 players on 13 playoff teams are connected to him through the camp or AAU team.

Stephen Curry participated in Paul's first elite guard camp in 2008 while he was at Davidson. The following summer, in 2009, the two trained together and visited Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, before Curry's rookie season.

"He's just a dude that loves the game, loves to give back to it, is always going out his way to give advice or be available," Curry said. The Golden State Warriors point guard also described the impact of active players engaging at that level. "I've seen it a lot, it's not a knock, but there's a level of engagement, being there and energy that the NBA player can bring to that environment that can change the course of somebody's path," he said.

Ja Morant performed a viral dunk with his elbows and head above the rim during the 2018 camp, putting him on the map before his breakout sophomore season at Murray State. In the summer of 2016, De'Aaron Fox and Dennis Smith Jr. raced each other at the camp as they entered their freshman seasons at Kentucky and NC State, respectively. Last summer in Las Vegas, Jayson Tatum co-hosted the Nike elite camp with Paul.

Each camp includes film sessions, Q&A sessions with Paul and other professionals, and hands-on teaching from coaches such as John Beckett, a longtime assistant with the Denver Nuggets, and Natalie Nakase, the head coach of the Golden State Valkyries and a former assistant with the LA Clippers. Paul has also influenced point guards including Stephen Curry, Donovan Mitchell, and Jase Richardson, many of whom remain in touch with him.

"I'm telling them all the little nuances of how I steal the ball," he said. "How I read the pick-and-roll, how I do this, how I do that."