Wednesday, the 2022 Western Conference Finals will begin, and the Golden State Warriors are hosting a young and hungry Dallas Mavericks team. During the regular-season series, Luka Doncic and the Mavs won three out of four games against the Dubs. If Golden State wantw better results in this year's postseason, a Warriors X-Factor vs Mavs will need to emerge.

Warriors X-Factor Vs Mavs

The Warriors have a very deep roster. In each series, the X-factor can change. Sometimes the player needed to win won't be discovered till the end of the series, such as Kevon Looney against the Memphis Grizzlies. But in the 2022 Western Conference Finals, the Warriors X-factor will be a player in a new role. A player who hasn't been this far in the playoffs before. A player who isn't afraid of the moment.

The X-factor of this series is no other than Andrew Wiggins. He's been the glue guy of the playoffs. At the beginning of the season, the team needed him to score between 18 to 20 points a night. He was successful enough to become an All-Star this season for the first time in his career.

In the postseason, his role has changed drastically. With Klay Thompson back healthy and the emergence of Jordan Poole, scoring as much isn't necessary. Now the Warriors are asking him to do things he's never done in his NBA career. In this series, if the Warriors want to win, Wiggins will need to star in this role again.

In this new role, he's being asked to play power forward sometimes. Other times, in a vastly different role, he'll be tasked with guarding Doncic. He'll need to do this at a high level if the Warriors want to come out on top of this series. Timely buckets and big plays are also things Wiggins will need to provide for the Warriors.

These are things Wiggins has done all playoffs, but the deeper you get into the postseason, the tougher the competition gets. Wiggins is averaging 14.5 points and 6.9 rebounds. He's collecting nearly a block and a steal each night.

The one-time All-Star can be the best two-way player in this series. Successfully guarding Doncic won't be enough. Wiggins will need to take his game to another level. The Warriors believe in him, and that's one of the biggest reasons the Warriors traded for him.

Game 1 will be a huge night for the Dubs. The team that strikes first will have a huge advantage in this series. The outcome of the game will be headlined by the stars on a nightly basis. But if you're a real basketball head, you will see another story. You will see how a quiet player with a smile controlled the outcome.

Andrew Wiggins is facing the toughest challenge of his career. The 2022 Western Conference Finals is the final step before playing in the NBA Finals, and to get there, No. 22 will need to play the best basketball of his life.