Given where he has been for the last four years, D’Antoni will happily take the pressure, the unfair comparisons and the ghost of Jackson.

“If your expectations are way up there and you don’t have the team, then you’re doomed,” D’Antoni said by telephone. “The expectations are where they are because this team is built to win a championship.”

He added: “I like my chances. I like the guys we have.”

D’Antoni will arrive in Los Angeles on Wednesday, meet reporters on Thursday and be in the arena Friday night when the Lakers host — of all teams — the Suns. But his debut on the bench will not come until Sunday, at the earliest.

D’Antoni had knee surgery Oct. 31 and is still walking with a cane or crutches. He has weeks of physical therapy ahead of him. He said he was aiming to coach his first game Sunday, against the Houston Rockets, presenting another intriguing reunion — with Jeremy Lin, the Harvard graduate who blossomed into a star under D’Antoni last season.

Physically, D’Antoni said he should be fine, but added with a chuckle, “I’ll probably be a little more calmer to start with than I normally am.”

The truth is, D’Antoni never expected to be back on the bench so soon. After losing a battle of wills with Carmelo Anthony and walking away from the Knicks in March, D’Antoni planned to take a year off, to let his son Michael graduate from high school before moving again. He had the knee surgery believing he had months to recover.