The still-scuffling U.S. economy likely will keep some NBA teams from starting the season with a full, 15-player roster, according to a survey of the 30 franchises.

With the season opening next week and final rosters due Monday, the survey found that nearly half the league plans to start with 15 players. But others will carry the minimum 13 or leave one spot empty.

Chief among the reasons was flexibility -- having an available spot or two to keep options open for trades or injuries in the long, 82-game season. No teams outright said their decision would be driven by the economy, but the bottom line is clearly an issue.

"NBA teams are businesses like every other in this country," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban wrote in an e-mail. "Times are tough and I expect many if not most teams to carry fewer than 15 players on their rosters."

NBA teams are allowed to carry 12 active and three inactive players. Not filling all 15 slots would not leave a team at less than full strength for games, though it might leave it short-handed for practices.

Denver will start with a 13-player model after going with 14 last season and the full 15 in the two seasons prior.

In the first seven games last season, the Nuggets used more than nine players only once. Mark Warkentien, the team's vice president of basketball operations, said he likes having chairs open at the end of the bench, just in case.

"There's an obvious economic benefit. I'm not going to deny it," Warkentien said. "The compelling reason is the flexibility."

The minimum NBA salary this season is about $457,000 for rookies. The luxury tax threshold is about $70 million, meaning teams must pay a $1 tax for every dollar spent on salaries above that limit in a given year.

Also, Stu Jackson, the league's executive vice president of basketball operations, said recent media reports that the traveling rule had been changed to allow an extra step after the dribble were not true.

"We have not changed the traveling rule, nor how we enforce the rule," he said

The section of the NBA rulebook dealing with traveling used to allow players to "use a two-count rhythm in coming to a stop." It was reworded this season to say players "may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball."

Antawn Jamison's ailing shoulder will take much longer to heal than expected -- keeping him off the court for 8-13 games to start the regular season.

Houston waived guard Brent Barry, a move that trims their roster to the required 15 players.

Indiana said Mel Daniels no longer is the team's director of player personnel. Daniels has a long history with team president Larry Bird. He was an assistant coach for Indiana State in 1979, when Bird led the Sycamores to the national title game.

Guard Allen Iverson likely will miss Memphis' season opener Wednesday night against his former team, Detroit, as he recovers from a partly torn left hamstring.

Utah said forward Kyle Korver will have surgery on his left knee and will miss the beginning of the regular season for an undisclosed amount of games.

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