Campbell attended Morningside High School in Inglewood, California before playing college basketball at Clemson University.

During a one-point loss in the 1990 NCAA Tournament to a Connecticut team, his college team defended a play that consisted of a full-court catch-and-shoot play by Tate George with one second on the clock.

On March 10, 1999, Campbell was traded by the Lakers along with Eddie Jones to the Charlotte Hornets for Glen Rice, J. R. Reid and B. J.

[1] Campbell's longest tenures were with the Lakers and the Hornets (in both Charlotte and New Orleans); he would also play with the Seattle SuperSonics and briefly for the New Jersey Nets, spending most of the final two seasons of his career as a member of the Detroit Pistons, being on roster in the 2004 NBA Championship team.

During Campbell's tenure with the Pistons, perhaps his most important contribution was his defense against center Shaquille O'Neal in the two playoff series in which the Pistons engaged O'Neal's teams (against the Lakers in the 2004 NBA Finals and against the Miami Heat in the 2005 NBA Eastern Conference Finals);[2] because of his enormous bulk and strength, he presented a unique challenge to O'Neal in the low post and was one of the few NBA players who could pose a serious physical challenge to O'Neal on defense.