HEAT Sign Yakhouba Diawara

MIAMI, August 7 – The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed free agent guard/forward Yakhouba Diawara. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Diawara spent the previous two seasons playing for the Denver Nuggets. During the 2007-08 season, he played in 54 games (14 starts), averaging 2.8 points and 1.1 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game, while shooting 41.0 percent from the field. In his first season in the NBA, he played in 64 games (19 starts) and averaged 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game.

During the 2005-06 season, Diawara played in 20 games for JDA Dijon Bourgogne of the French League where he averaged 16.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He also played 25 games for Climamio Bologna of the Italian League, where he averaged 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.

He was a member of the HEAT’s 2005 Summer League squad, playing in two games and averaging 5.0 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting 57.1 percent from the field.

He played for two seasons at Pepperdine (2003-05), averaging 15.5 points and 6.0 rebounds over his two years. He was also named First Team All-West Coast Conference as a junior. He spent his first two collegiate seasons at Southern Idaho Junior College.