With the offseason acquisition of Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers are being viewed as one of the better teams in the Western Conference for the coming season. Some coaches are weary of this sort of pressure, but Frank Vogel likes the fact that his team is expected to be a favorite.

Vogel, who was named head coach of the Lakers on May 13, recently joined Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated for a wide-ranging interview. Amid their discussion, Vogel noted that he is familiar with being in the spotlight, recalling his matchup against LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals while coaching the Pacers:

“The Lakers have always been on the forefront and anywhere LeBron has been, has been on the forefront,” Vogel told Sports Illustrated. “The best experience I've had is being in the conference finals against LeBron because that's exactly what it was like then. Every word I said then was blasted all over the world, all over Twitter and SportsCenter.

“That's going to be the case here with the Lakers. It's not something that I've not been a part of, but it's just part of this job. You know, I understand it. I don't think there's anything negative about it. I love that our team's going to be talked about and I love that we're going to be one of the favorites in the league this year after having coached a number of little engine that coulds’, you know? It's teams that were all the overachieving type. So I like being viewed as one of the favorites.”

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The Lakers are indeed listed among the favorites to win the 2020 NBA championship. In fact, actionnetwork.com and the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook currently has Los Angeles at +450 (a wager of $100 would profit $450).

Though it's early, the Lakers seem poised for a postseason run.