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Wilt was the best big man, no doubt about that. Much much better than Shaq...but Jordan was by far the most dominant, important, and talented player to ever play the game.
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Hmmm . . . hard to argue with that, but I'll try
I believe Wilt was the most dominant individual player ever. He had seasons when he alternately led the league in scoring, rebounding and assists. Averaged more than 50 ppg. Averaged more than 27 rpg. Averaged more than 48 minutes per game played (playing overtime games and missing only a total of 8 minutes in an entire 82 game season). In 14 years he never fouled out of a game, never lost his cool despite the fact that opposing teams pounded the hell out of him to send him to the line. And for all his scoring records don't forget that for the second half of his career he changed his game, gradually and ultimately abandoning shooting to concentrate on defense and rebounding, letting guys like Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Gale Goodrich do the scoring. Second most dominant individual player? Oscar Robertson.
And as the Big O himself put it when he was asked whether Chamberlain was the best ever, "The books don't lie."
Most important player? Maybe Jordan, because not only was he a great player but he achieved (with the help of Nike's marketing machine) a level of broad-based commercial appeal that no other athlete (not even Tiger Woods) ever has or maybe ever will. The NBA grew in international popularity mainly because of Jordan. The most important time for the NBA though was really the Magic/Bird years.
And who's the most talented? Maybe Connie Hawkins or somebody like that
Really, I don't know, but I think what made Jordan special was his unique combination of extremely high levels of talent, skill, work ethic, competitive drive, self-confidence, charisma, physical ability, and situation. I'm just happy I got to watch him play for so many years.