Hanamichi Sakuragi, a tall, boisterous teenager with flame-red hair and physical strength beyond his years, is eager to put an end to his rejection streak of 50 and finally score a girlfriend as he begins his first year of Shohoku High. However, his reputation for delinquency and destructiveness precedes him, and most of his fellow students subsequently avoid him like the plague. As his first day of school ends, he is left with two strong thoughts: "I hate basketball" and "I need a girlfriend."

Haruko Akagi, ignorant of Hanamichi's history of misbehavior, notices his immense height and unwittingly approaches him, asking whether or not he likes basketball. Overcome by the fact that a girl is speaking to him, the red-haired giant blurts out a yes despite his true feelings. At the gym, Haruko asks if he can do a slam dunk. Though a complete novice, Hanamachi palms the ball and makes the leap...but overshoots, slamming his head into the backboard. Amazed by his near-inhuman physical abilities, Haruko quickly notifies the school's basketball captain of his feat. With this, Hanamichi is unexpectedly thrust into a world of competition for a girl he barely knows, but he soon discovers that there is perhaps more to basketball than he once thought.

Slam Dunk won the 40th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shounen category in 1994. As of 2017, over 170 million copies of the series are in circulation. The manga's wide success led to a large increase in the popularity of basketball among Japanese youth. In 2010, Takehiko Inoue received special commendations from the Japan Basketball Association for popularizing basketball in Japan. The series was published in English by Gutsoon! Entertainment under the Raijin Comics Imprint for five volumes from July 2, 2003, to May 5, 2004. After Gutsoon's shutdown, VIZ Media purchased the publishing rights and republished the series under the Shonen Jump imprint from September 2, 2008, to December 3, 2013. It was published in Spanish by Ivrea España from February 2003 to September 2005.