By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Mar 31, 2017 at 11:46 AM

Just before April Fool’s Day, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo teamed with Mountain Dew to pull off an awesomely fun, fan-friendly, one-of-a-kind prank on some unsuspecting – but instantly delighted – Milwaukeeans at a Downtown bus stop on East Mason Street.

The All-Star point-forward, who leads the Bucks in points (23.1), rebounds (8.6), assists (5.3), blocks (1.9) and steals (1.7), shocked several people waiting at the stop by calling them via a giant, interactive bus shelter panel. After the fans answered the call, Antetokounmpo’s smiling face greeted them and, following their initial incredulity, people got to actually talk to the Greek Freak.

In one case, Antetokounmpo even showed up at the Milwaukee bus stop to surprise and hug a wonderfully astonished female fan. And then, at the end of the video, Giannis got an exciting surprise of his own in the shelter.

The video is fantastic, the reactions of the fans are priceless and Mountain Dew’s creative Answer the Call ad campaign is phenomenally entertaining. And that was all the second act to the first part of the April Fool’s prank, which involved Giannis leaking his phone number to his 192K followers on Twitter, giving NBA fans nationwide the opportunity to reach him directly via phone and chat hoops.

Besides the originality of Mountain Dew’s campaign, the best part of this whole thing was the fact that Giannis – who, despite becoming a very bad man on the court, is still the impossibly charismatic, ever-playful, always goofy and genuinely down-to-earth person he is – was, of course, all the way down to do it. If only he could have lip-synced Justin Bieber on the screen for his bus-stop fans.

The Bucks, who have won 13 of their last 16 and are surging toward the playoffs, host Detroit and Dallas at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Friday and Sunday, respectively, and have seven games remaining in the regular season.

Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.