DETROIT - Jaren Jackson Jr. was on a team bus in Chicago last week when it was first brought to his attention.
One of the Michigan State freshman forward's teammates showed him what appeared to be his likeness on the cover of Sports Illustrated and asked if it was real.
"I'm like, no, they didn't tell me I was going to be on it," Jackson recalled Thursday afternoon. "That's fake."
The following morning, he received a call from his mom and discovered the cover was real. A color photo of Jackson loomed large with a slew of players and coaches scattered around him in black-and-white.