NBA 2K21 Next-Gen Stadiums: A Look at Every Arena

Modeling and detailing look great, but the Achilles heel of 2K regarding ambiance has always been lighting. Don't get me wrong, their lighting technology has the potential to be really good, it's just how they approach it that isn't authentic to the real-life stadiums. Most of them feature a dark crowd after the first few rows (a la Staples Center), which is not very realistic at all. Granted, more and more stadiums are adhering to this, but not all of them. And despite that similar look across the board, even Staples doesn't look right in the game. In that regard, NBA Live was really ahead of them and the Xbox Series X auto hdr feature for backwards compatible games has made that difference even more striking. Strange but true.

One complaint I have is that they didn't get the Wizard home stadium right. Capital One Arena underwent a renovation 2 years ago which included a new center hung scoreboard, additional LED boards and a standup bar on the south side of the arena. 2K has not included any of these visual changes to the arena. 
Hopefully someone at 2K knows this and will make those changes. 

Totally agree with the lighting statement. If you go to games in person everyone not sitting in the first few rows isn't in a dark dungeon. I get it looks like that for some teams on TV, but it really takes away from the atmosphere and makes alot of the stadiums look similar when all you can see is the first rows.

I want team specific intros. That would be sweet. The graphics are superb though.

Even NBA Live 10 on the Xbox 360 had better representations of the stadium lighting than their current model.

These are the exact same outdated too dark arenas from last gen.  Didn't 2K say they rebuilt every arena for next gen?    

for the most part areas are fine. The 2004 Detroit Pistons court or lightning needs some real work. its way to bright.

they need to work on lighting and putting realistic 3D modeled fans in the upper deck of the arenas. If you look closely, you can see low textures fans in the upper decks. I don't think that part is a next gen crowd. They should also have the fans be very dynamic, meaning they should get up at random times during the game to go to the bathroom, get food, etc. They should have some fans leaving the arena in the 4th quarter if it's a blowout while the game is being played. They should improve the crowd reactions to different things that occur during the game. Now that would be next-gen.

Brooklyn Court colors are completely wrong, it is not black and grey, it's a light and dark rustic brown.