title: Best way to check if a Model exists in a many-to-many relationship
body: <p>I have some data being posted to the server and am retrieving a <code>Player</code> based on that data (an id). I am using the following code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$player = Player::findOrFail($player_data['id']);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, I want to check that this <code>Player</code> belongs to a specific <code>Team</code> - a <code>belongsToMany</code> relationship.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a better way than something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>if (! count($player-&gt;team()-&gt;find($teamId))) {
      // exit early, form may have been 'hacked'
      abort(404);
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>?</p>
  
  <p><strong><code>team()</code> and not <code>teams()</code>, even though its a many-to-many.</strong></p>