On December 12, 1985, Hodges led the Bucks in scoring with a career high 29 points, including a 27-foot three-point jump shot to force the game into overtime, in a 110–108 loss to the Washington Bullets.

[9] The following round, in a pattern familiar for the 1980s Bucks, the team would ultimately fall short of reaching the NBA Finals, being eliminated by the Boston Celtics.

[19] Hodges also coached the Halifax Rainmen in the Canadian Basketball League for half a season,[20] and during his time as head coach of the Rainmen, was invited by Dennis Rodman to play in North Korea, but he was denied entry into that country, citing "I was looking forward to the opportunity of going and helping Dennis, as far as the basketball end of things", and saying "I'm for human rights, and so going to North Korea wasn't a matter of me going to rub political shoulders with the man that's in power.

[citation needed] When the Chicago Bulls visited the White House after winning the 1991 NBA Championship, Hodges dressed in a dashiki and delivered a hand-written letter addressed to then President George H. W. Bush, expressing his discontent at the administration's treatment of the poor and minorities.

[23] The book The Jordan Rules related how Hodges had opposed the 1991 Gulf War but mainly discussed his issues with teammates and coaches who mostly disagreed with him but didn't shun him for his contrary views.

[24] In a 2022 podcast series on The Ringer hosted by Jackie MacMullan that covered "NBA Icons", MacMullan quoted Hodges as having asked Jordan to leave Nike and form a new athletic-wear company that would be staffed by minorities, and also that Hodges asked Jordan and Magic Johnson to lead a boycott of the 1991 NBA Finals to protest the beating of Rodney King by the LAPD.

In 1996, Hodges filed a $40 million lawsuit against the NBA and its then 29 teams, claiming they blackballed him for his association with Louis Farrakhan and criticism of "African-American professional athletes who failed to use their considerable wealth and influence to assist the poor and disenfranchised.

"[17] The lawsuit claimed that Bulls assistant coach Jim Cleamons told him that the team was troubled by his criticism of players' lack of involvement in inner-city communities.

While a Bulls official said Hodges was waived as he was getting old and could not play defense, head coach Phil Jackson said, "I also found it strange that not a single team called to inquire about him.