What leverage does he have not to? I mean he will certainly be valued higher around the league than many on in the local twitterverse thinks. But he simply didn't play well enough to make such demands.
Yes they work. It requires Zion making a leap in his skill level like BI did over the last 3 years. Zion has been mostly stagnant.
The complaint has been that BI has stagnated. I would love him back on a team friendly deal, but not sure that is realistic. As stated above, he has all the leverage by walking into free agency and Pels get nothing.