On September 23, 1958, the club was founded as Bona Stars by Ton Kallenberg, a physical education professor at a school in Leiden.

In 1967 the club entered the eredivisie, the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands under the name BS Leiden.

The team played five years in the Promotiedivisie, the highest non-professional league, before pulling out of the Dutch basketball pyramid.

[2] The team got a new main sponsor in Zorg en Zekerheid and would play its games in the Vijf Meihal.

In the 2010–11 season, ZZ Leiden came back on top of the Dutch basketball world as best club.

After the end of the season, Leiden decided to part ways with head coach Toon van Helfteren.

Main sponsor Zorg en Zekerheid extended their contract with 3 years in the 2014 offseason,[5] and a new head coach was signed in Eddy Casteels.

After the successful season, coach Hammink signed with Skyliners Frankfurt;[12] star player Worthy de Jong retired from professional basketball.

[13] However, Stelmahers later signed another contract with Nymburk in the Czech Republic, causing Leiden to seek a replacement.

The win meant that Leiden won its first national double (both the league and cup titles) in club history.

The arena, which is also used for gymnastics of high school students, is nicknamed De Schuur (The Barn) by ZZ Leiden fans.

The municipality of Leiden replaced the Vijf Meihal with the newly built Sportcomplex 1574, which was announced to have a capacity of 2,435 people.

In its first season, ZZ Leiden was forced to withdraw from the Basketball Champions League because of the size of the Sportcomplex 1574.