what has to be done to become a contender at this point?

I think Parsons trade value will decline over time as the window on his value contract closes. Sure, he's still getting better, but his potential is priced into his market value -- it will only change incrementally as his potential is realized or not over time. The real time dependency is how long a team gets to use him without the cap hit. That's a big value to us right now, but once we pull the trigger on a big-time player that sucks up the rest of our cap room, I think it'll tip the balance and make him more valuable as a trade chip than he is as a player (caveat: unless we somehow get so much payroll expansion that we need the savings he gives us to avoid the luxury tax).