Miami Heat starting point guard Damon Jones chose not to exercise the one-year option on his contract making him a free agent.

Jones, the Heat's starting point guard this past season, had until midnight Thursday to invoke a $2.75 million option for 2005-06.

Jones, the only Miami player to appear in all 97 games, including playoffs, averaged 11.6 points and connected on 225 of 521 attempts from 3-point range during the regular season and had the fourth best assist-to-turnover ratio in the league at 3.57-1.