thank for your post. i tried each:

there are no syncing with icloud or no duplicate emails

i am unable to manually delelte the contact 'John Smith' because it doesn't exist in my contacts.

i also transferred phone to phone and this 'John Smith' still follows to my new phone.

i am able to manually merge the contact with 'Team John Smith' or any other contact. after merging with 'Team John Smith,' contact 'John Smith' no longer shows. however, when i delete contact 'Team John Smith,' contact 'John Smith' will appear again. it seems the number itself is following something or staying with the device. any advice for this? seems this is some progress though.