Spurs’ deal adds to depth in West

PHOENIX -- It’s really not a surprise any more: The Western Conference gets tougher.

Yawn, stretch, go to the next page.

The San Antonio Spurs acquired veteran center-forward Kurt Thomas on Wednesday from Seattle, becoming the fourth West team this month to add a piece to its playoff puzzle.

It wasn’t the splashy acquisition of Pau Gasol, Shaquille O’Neal or Jason Kidd, but it almost went without saying that the defending champions wouldn’t go quietly before today’s trade deadline at noon PST.

Indeed, the landscape moved, again, in the West.

Or, as Lamar Odom said, “There’s four or five teams in the West right now that think they can win the championship.”

With less than two months left in the regular season, columnists and TV analysts have had a field day handicapping who will emerge from the West.

The Lakers, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans and Utah are all within three games of each other in the standings.

Odom, a fan of the New York Giants, went with a football analogy when asked who would take the West.

“It’s going to come down to who has the best goal-line ‘D’, who has the best red-zone ‘D’ ” he said.

Thomas was averaging 7.5 points and 8.8 rebounds as Seattle’s starting center. He was acquired for Francisco Elson, Brent Barry, and a 2009 first-round draft pick.

Jackson said Thomas was “very efficient as a player.” Then he jabbed P.J. Carlesimo, who spent five seasons as an assistant coach with San Antonio before taking the head coaching job with Seattle this season.

“No doubt about the fact that P.J. would send him on over to San Antonio without any hesitation,” Jackson said wryly.

Jackson was then asked if he wanted to be on the so-called “trade committee” sarcastically proposed by San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich after the Lakers acquired Gasol.

“I don’t want to be on that committee,” Jackson said. “I hate committees.”

Gasol, on the fact he started the whole trade rush in the West with his move from Memphis: “That’s what people say. If that’s the case, more power to them.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com