Your manager

“Chad, take the big project”

My manager plays favorites so obviously that half the team has stopped trying.

What's really going on

• Around half of employees in surveys say their manager clearly favors someone. So it's common, not a sign your team is uniquely broken.
• Sometimes it isn't random: the "favorite" may simply have asked for clear expectations, made their work more visible, or built more trust, and the manager hasn't noticed what that imbalance does to everyone else.
• Left alone, it splits the team into an in-group and an out-group, and the out-group checks out. That's your "half the team has stopped trying." It's a rational reaction to effort no longer being linked to reward, not laziness.
• If you're a team lead and someone above you is going around you to your people, that's a separate authority problem and worth raising on its own.

What to say

"I saw [colleague] got [project], and honestly it looks like great work. I'd love a shot at something like that too. What would help me get there?"

Change the words so they sound like you, but keep the tone.