Boston Celtics: Kemba Walker is the ultimate X-factor

Fresh of an exhilarating win against the Golden State Warriors, the Boston Celtics now find themselves boasting an 11-8 record, placing them soundly in the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

What’s more surprising about this is the fact that they’ve been able to find such success without their franchise point guard, Kemba Walker, in the lineup for about 70 percent of their games.

They went 8-3 prior till his return to action and, though they’ve struggled of late since he’s been reintegrated into the lineup, this was to be somewhat expected, especially considering how the injury bug has chomped down on some of Boston’s other key rotation players — poor timing indeed.

Despite all this, however, individually Walker has been playing quite well, posting averages of 15 points, 4.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.

Kemba Walker being back is big for the Boston Celtics

His shooting splits are rather underwhelming, converting on just 37 percent of his attempts from the field and 30 percent from deep, but, again, this is rather unsurprising, as he hadn’t played in a game for about four months.

Now, with him getting reacclimated, the future prospects for this Cs team appear to be incredibly bright. In fact, one could argue that Kemba Walker could be viewed as Boston’s X-factor moving forward.

In a recent article from Bleacher Report, writer Zach Buckley already deemed this to be the case, pointing out his proven success in this league and the emergence of Tatum and Brown as the two top dogs in Boston, having a guy like Kemba as the tertiary option in the lineup is a huge blessing, should he be able to accept such a role:

"The ongoing ascensions of Tatum and Brown have nudged Walker into third-star status. Or rather, they would if the 30-year-old could prove capable of producing in even that fashion. Left knee issues sidelined him at the start of the season, and he’s been a mixed bag of hopeful flashes and ominous struggles in his first six games.The Celtics, who lost Hayward in free agency and saw their margin for error become razor-thin as a result, need more from Walker. His past suggests he can deliver it, but his brick-laying present (37.3 percent from the field, 29.3 from deep) is hardly inspiring any confidence.“They can’t have Walker shoot 1-for-12 in a matchup against the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in which every possession was critical,” Gary Washburn wrote for the Boston Globe. “They can’t have Walker playing with little confidence wondering when he’s going to get his swagger back.”"

Having an All-Star/ All-NBA caliber player who just averaged 20.4 points and 4.8 assists on 38 percent shooting from deep last season as your third option is an incredible luxury.

The key, of course, is to see if he can tap into his pre-injury form.

Should this happen, and if he remains healthy, the Boston Celtics rolling out a 3-headed monster of Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown will rival virtually any other team’s big-3.

In the end, only time will tell if this potential can ultimately become a reality.