Jason Collins has MRI, out versus 76ers

Collins was injured in the first quarter of Thursday’s blowout loss to the Grizzlies. His arm was pinned by the Grizzlies’ Dante Cunningham while on the floor going after a loose ball. An X-ray was taken, and the injury was ruled a sprain. The Hawks have already lost starter Al Horford after surgery to repair a torn left pectoral muscle.

Meanwhile, the Hawks’ pursuit of free-agent center Kenyon Martin appears to have ended unsuccessfully. The Hawks met with a representative of Martin on Thursday. However the Los Angeles Times reported Friday that Martin, who was playing in China, has agreed to a contract with the Clippers. The deal is pending a physical.

“It hasn’t been a secret we’ve been looking at some guys,” Drew said. “When Al went down we began our search. We had a list of names we were looking at. The search is going to have to continue now [following the injury to Collins].

Collins did not practice Friday. He was at Philips Arena following the end of the session. He wore a sleeve on his left arm and said he felt “better.”

The loss of Collins leaves the Hawks with only one true center, Zaza Pachulia. That is a concern. After the loss of Collins, the Hawks were forced to use Ivan Johnson at center, especially after Pachulia picked up two first-quarter fouls. The Grizzlies, with 7-foot-1 Marc Gasol, finished with 58 points in the paint in their 96-77 win.

“[Johnson] just gives up too much size, particularly playing against a guy like Gasol,” Drew said. “We have to try to get another big body in here. We’ve been looking. We’ll continue to look. Until we know Jason’s actual status, we’ll just have to take it day by day and just see where we are. We are a little depleted right now. We just have to push through it as best we can until something happens.”

Pachulia, who has started nine of the 12 games without Horford, said he must adjust as the only true center for the time being.

“I’ve got to be smarter and do a better job of not picking up cheap fouls,” Pachulia said. “The second foul [Thursday] I could have easily used my body to challenge [Rudy] Gay’s shot. I’m going to try to be more careful next game. I’m not going to try to save the fouls. When I need to take a foul, of course I’m a big man I will, especially with Jason down. Now, I’ve got to be more careful and take the foul only when I need to.”

Some of the free-agent center options include Erick Dampier, Kyrylo Fesenko, Dan Gadzuric, Joel Przybilla, and D.J. Mbenga.

Without Horford, Drew said he was comfortable with two centers, a starter and backup, to put into the rotation. Should the Hawks be without Collins for an extended period of time, Drew would be left with the one starter in Pachulia, who has spent much of his career as a reserve, and an undersized backup in Johnson.

“We are going to have to adapt,” Drew said. “We’ll have to do a few things differently.”