What Happened to Former NBA Player Craig Hodges? Inside the Details

There are hundreds of superstars (past and present) in the NBA, but for every A-list name, there is a player who is lesser known yet still remembered by devoted fans. Such is the case with former Chicago Bulls player Craig Hodges, whose career was upended in the early '90s.

Before joining the Bulls in 1988, Craig played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns. After his career as a player ended, he transitioned into coaching for the likes of Chicago State and the Los Angeles Lakers.

During the Chicago Bulls’ visit to the White House in 1991 after the team won their first NBA Championship, Craig, along with his teammates, was greeted by President George H.W. Bush. Hodges, who was known for his outspokenness in advocating for social justice and civil rights, used the opportunity to do something that effectively ended his career.

Per Sports Illustrated, Hodges handed former President Bush an eight-page letter asking him to take a more active stance in resolving issues facing “poor and minority communities” in America. The letter did not go over well.

The subsequent fallout of Hodges’s letter to President Bush added fuel to existing concerns those in the NBA were already having about his willingness to speak out against injustices, and in 1992, less than a month after the Bulls won their second NBA championship, the team waived Hodges, it would be his last NBA game as a player, according to the outlet.

Sports Illustrated published an excerpt of the eight-page letter Craig wrote, which read in part:

“Mr. President, I’ve taken on the responsibility to speak on behalf of those who are not able to be heard from where they are. We have a sector of our population that is being described as an ‘endangered species’, i.e. the young black man.”

“The question must be asked, ‘Why is the condition of the inner cities around the country in a state of emergency because of wanton violence, lack of jobs, or drugs.”

“It is very important that the citizens of this great nation make a determination on what side of history we will be on in this most critical hour.”

In an exclusive interview on the show All The Smoke, hosted by former NBA stars Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Craig shared his thoughts on how his basketball career ended so suddenly.

“When I write a letter to the president at age 32, I can’t get an agent to represent me in a union that’s supposed to represent us,” Craig said of how offers and opportunities declined after the incident.

“I can’t get a job. What did I do? I never missed a bus. I was never fined during my career,” he added. “I was a player rep for every team I played with. Where is the badness in that? The narrative was me having the audacity to write a letter to the president.”