I am not sure I understand what people are debating. I believe it is correct that Murphy's contract (exactly $27M) could be absorbed in the $27.7M TPE that BOS has. But this TPE is from a trade last season so it can only be used if the team is below the first apron. BOS is not $27M under the first apron (more like $21M) so BOS would need to send back enough to be under after the trade. That could be done with either Hauser or Pritchard. BOS would be hard capped at the first apron, and left with very little flexibility, but this trade could work.
But there is no way that NOP would do this version of a trade with BOS. They could get way better deals. Having the $27.7M TPE does give BOS a very useful tool to make a deal with NOP, but something like Pritchard and picks is not likely to be enough to get Murphy.
I think all this chatter out there is based on the belief that NOP wants Brown. I don't know if that is true or not but it seems reasonable. There is also chatter that NOP is looking to trade Murphy to save money. I find this to be less believable. That NOP would be willing to trade Murphy to get a player like Brown, sure, but not for Pritchard in a cost saving deal. Murphy is not nearly enough to get Brown of course, not in player value and NOP would have to send out more salary, so trade ideas go from there.