Launching as a quarterly with an initial circulation of 125,000, it was founded by publisher Dennis Page at Harris Publications, and he hired Cory Johnson to be the first Editor in Chief.

[2] Its first issue had a cover story on Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets (written by future Fortune editor Andrew Serwer) and a feature on then-Cal freshman Jason Kidd.

The magazine carries advertising for basketball-related products, street-wear clothing and hip hop music, and has been credited with helping to market hip-hop culture and basketball as one.

[11] The magazine is now available to international (non-U.S.) NBA fans, with special editions printed in some territories (see below), and the addition of Slam to digital stores, such as iTunes (the remoteness/distance from the U.S. of the subscriber has become a recurring theme in the letters section).

"[13] During the mid-to-late 1990s into the 2000s, SLAM was often regarded by advertising executives and media members as avant-garde for its approaches at the time of publishing player-written pieces and an extensive letters-to-the-editor section which spanned several pages, each of which provided ample voice to the NBPA and common fans.

For example, in reference to Craig Hodges, author Dave Zirin reflected in the title's 100th issue that if SLAM had existed in years prior, "a player of politics and protest could've outrun purgatory.