MIAMI – France's Yakhouba Diawara and fellow forward Jermaine O'Neal have exercised their options to remain under contract with the Miami Heat for one more National Basketball Association season.

Both players had contracts requiring them to "opt in" for the final season of the deal.

O'Neal, who averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in the 208-09 season for Miami and Toronto, will make nearly 23 million dollars over the next campaign.

French international Diawara, who started 21 games for Miami after joining the Heat last August, averaged 3.4 points per game.

Diawara arrived in the NBA with Denver in 2006, after a five-month spell at Climamio Bologna in Italy. He previously played for Dijon in the French league.