One week into an already stressful season, the Knicks do not have a center, a defensive beacon in the N.B.A. storm. There is no short or complete answer to the loss of Tyson Chandler, who has a nondisplaced fracture of the right fibula. But there will be suggestions on how to cobble together a plan to survive for the next four to six weeks. And here is one:

Get the agent Arn Tellem on the phone and see how quickly Jason Collins can get to New York.

Collins has been home in Los Angeles, working out and waiting for the inevitable injury that would send a front-line player to the injured list and get him back into the league for at least part of a 13th season. Chandler was the first and will not be the last.

Reluctant to be quoted on a touchy subject, many N.B.A. insiders have insisted that Collins’s exclusion has had nothing to do with the announcement last spring that he is gay. It has been, they said, more about his age, his limited abilities and, in some cases, luxury-tax complications related to the salary cap.

They are right that Collins, who turns 35 next month, is no compelling asset for any team that does not have wreckage. But the Knicks are suddenly a desperate team, terrified of falling behind in the race for playoff seeding in a season that could determine Carmelo Anthony’s future with the franchise.

In training camp, Coach Mike Woodson said the Knicks had considered signing Collins. Over the next six weeks, Woodson is going to need all the height, experience and big-man savvy he can get.