In a hyper-competitive society where the gap between rich and poor is widening and only the strongest survive, talented athletes who have been pushed aside due to past mistakes or the circumstances of their birth find themselves with nowhere left to go. Their last chance at redemption comes not from a professional league, but from the shadows. ZERO RISE is an underground street basketball league that offers a singular promise to those who enter: victory will allow them to erase the scars of their past and reclaim their place on the grand stage.

The series follows multiple teams of these so-called "underdogs" as they battle in the ruthless courts of the streets. Central to the story is UNFIXXX, a rising team from the Shinjuku street basketball scene. Its ace is Madoka Kurogare, a player forced out of official competition due to a middle school incident, who now fights to prove that basketball is the one thing no one can take from him. He is joined by Hagane Amadate, who uses his natural physique and explosive power to earn a living through prize money, and the laid-back but fiercely capable Tsukasa Marindo, who acts as Madoka's guardian.

They face fierce rivals from other crews staking their own claims to a second chance. KINGS+HOOT consists of three childhood friends, including the lightning-fast Blink, the idol and sharpshooter Miracle, and the cool-headed strategist Sunshine. RumbleWing[s] features the talented York alongside the identical twin brothers Ujin and Sajin, whose street-honed coordination makes them nearly unstoppable. The most dangerous opposition comes from BLACKSPOT, the so-called "most feared team in Shinjuku," which ignores the league's unwritten rules by using weapons and violent tactics on the court under the command of their captain, Ballista. Watching over all these conflicts is Hayato Jigen, a former professional champion and the founder of ZERO RISE, who continues to seek out and recruit promising talent for his high-stakes experiment.

The narrative is driven by the intersecting arcs of these players as they deal with the traumas of their pasts, the pressure to win at all costs, and the bonds they form through basketball. From the chaotic aggression of BLACKSPOT to the precise teamwork of KINGS+HOOT and the raw potential of UNFIXXX, each match is a desperate struggle to claw their way up from zero and seize a future that the system has denied them.