Zach Lowe: Teams are projecting a $92 million salary cap for next season

Have you ever discovered a $5 bill in an old jacket? It's the greatest feeling in the world, am I right? Now, try to imagine you are the New York Knicks, your old jacket is the 2016-17 salary cap, and that $5 bill is an extra $3 million in cap space. Per Zach Lowe:

Howard is 30, declining and about to enter free agency as the cap spikes to around $92 million -- the new estimate lots of teams are using after the league initially projected an $89 million ceiling for next season.

The Knicks are back!

Yes, that cap spike applies to all teams, but that extra dough could really benefit Phil Jackson's next free agency campaign. Right now the Knicks are projected to have $68.7 million on the 2016-17 cap, including player options for Arron Afflalo and Derrick Williams. (Sure, they may opt out, but you can't take it for granted.) The new cap figure brings them a bit closer to the space needed to hand out a max contract -- the amount of a max deal will also rise along with the cap, but not by $3 million. And we all know what Phil plans to do once he has max contract space ...

#staywoke @PhilJackson11 pic.twitter.com/5SUyY00FNH

— Joseph Flynn (@ChinaJoeFlynn) February 9, 2016

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Regardless of who the Knicks target this summer, more cap space is good!