The comic relief and the main character of Slamdunk. Sakuragi is a famous delinquent from Wakou middle school along with his gundan. Yohei, Ookutsu, Noma and Takamiya. He was rejected by 50 girls since middle school.The last girl who broke up with him told him that she liked someone in the basketball team and that made him hate basketball. He even hits on people who mention the word basketball. When someone asked him whether he likes basketball, he almost hits the person until he saw that it was a figure of a beautiful girl. Haruko Akagi. And love strikes. And then he replied that he loved basketball.

He had high hopes for Haruko until he found out that she is infatuated with Rukawa. Before that, The seniors wanted a fight against Sakuragi and prepared to meet up the roof. Well...apparently Rukawa took care of those seniors and Sakuragi met Rukawa at last. Sakuragi got into a fight with Rukawa because Rukawa was being rude to Haruko. That was the starting of the hate relationship.

When he first entered the Basketball team, he had to practice the basics everyday. He wasn't that patient. He was tired of being bullied by Ayako and Akagi. He quitted. But somehow, he came back and joins the basketball team and dedicating himself to the team to please Haruko. He also got into a fight with Miyagi as Miyagi thought he was Ayako's lover. But they became friends because they understand each other. Later, he got into another fight with the seniors, lead by Mitsui. But Sakuragi Gundan and Mitsui's gang blamed themselves to cover up for the mess. He befriends them along the way except for Rukawa.

Sakuragi is a very hardworking person and would do anything to get what he wants. He is also a very fast learner. During the match against Shoyo, he rebounds the most balls but got kicked out for breaking the rules. And the whole time with Kainan, he argued a lot with Kiyota, Kainan's Small Forward. Sakuragi showed some of his weaknesses but he played a very good game, cutting Jin out of scoring 3 pointers. But towards the end of the match, he passed the ball to the wrong teammate causing Shohoku to lose. He was frustrated and didn't come for practice. Somehow with the 'help' of Rukawa, he did came back. Plus, he cut his hair. Crew cut style. I guess it's a sign.

During the match to Ryonan, Coach Taoka of Ryonan, considered him to be one of Shohoku's unstable article. But Sakuragi proved Taoka wrong. He didn't shine much during the match with Toyotama. But during the match against Sannoh, he scored the winning point!! And hurt his back because of it. Sakuragi was admitted to the hospital and the doctor advised that he wouldn't be able to play basketball for some time. When the doctor told him that this check up was going to be more painful than the day before, he answered, "I am Tensai,"