He’s the Punxsutawney Phil of the NBA.

Definitely not blood on anyone’s hands.

Pretty much

I don’t mind Trey and his great contract being in New Orleans and long the Pelicans could build a team full of “great guys”. But you can’t even do that if major salary dudes aren’t even playable.

For the right deal, Murphy (or anyone) shouldn’t be untouchable.

There’s ways to make these team work but it requires acquiring so much beyond Zion and Murphy, which is impossible when you have so much money tied into non-contributors like Poole and Murphy.

So you have to move what you can, even if they’re in your “core”.

Zion’s case is more obvious.

Was a potential superstar, missed time hindered that.

He’s done a lot to get right this season but feels like the train has left the station.

Has maintained being a valuable player, no longer a star.

Like watching a bunch of crooked hall monitors out there. They’re talented enough without all the entitlement so it sucks all the fun out of every game they play.