Dwight Howard is no stranger to controversy, so it comes as no surprise that he is the center of attention leading up to his team's matchup against his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Howard left the Lakers last season after just one short, yet tumultuous year in Los Angeles. He made a very public and anticipated decision to go to the Rockets after it was reported that Howard vowed not to return to Los Angeles if Kobe Bryant were to return for another season.

Some people have gone as far as calling the upcoming matchup a reunion game of sorts, but Howard downplayed this as much as he possibly could.

"It's not a reunion game," Howard told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday night. "What's the reunion? I think people are making a big deal out of the whole situation. Yeah, I left the Lakers. Ok, I did what I had to do. This is my decision, and for me it's another game. Half the guys on the team weren't on the team last year anyway, so it's really not like a reunion."

The Rockets made the playoffs last season for the first time in years and the team is looking to build from that. The most notable acquisition in the last off-season was obviously when the team signed Howard, but they've been rebuilding for a couple years. Last year the Rockets signed Jeremy Lin, who is still with the team.

Now that the Rockets have plenty of weapons, the pressure is on to have a big season. However, Howard said people still keep talking about last year.

"People can say that I ran from the situation, that I couldn't handle the pressure. But I think there's more pressure coming here to win than there was in L.A., because I left the Lakers to come play for somebody else. So I'm supposed to feel like there's more pressure to win now, because everybody is like, 'He left the Lakers; can he win?' And I'm like, 'I'm happy. I'm going to win regardless.' I think people just need to let it go, and if they don't, then that's on them. I've let it go. It's in the past."

The matchup between the Lakers and Rockets will be in Houston on Thursday night.