diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/RetriableStream.java b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/RetriableStream.java
index 96816eb6f15..3b5f60ef545 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/RetriableStream.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/internal/RetriableStream.java
@@ -166,7 +166,8 @@ private Runnable commit(final Substream winningSubstream) {
 
       final boolean wasCancelled = (scheduledRetry != null) ? scheduledRetry.isCancelled() : false;
       final Future<?> retryFuture;
-      if (scheduledRetry != null) {
+      final boolean retryWasScheduled = scheduledRetry != null;
+      if (retryWasScheduled) {
         retryFuture = scheduledRetry.markCancelled();
         scheduledRetry = null;
       } else {
@@ -190,8 +191,10 @@ public void run() {
               substream.stream.cancel(CANCELLED_BECAUSE_COMMITTED);
             }
           }
-          if (retryFuture != null) {
-            retryFuture.cancel(false);
+          if (retryWasScheduled) {
+            if (retryFuture != null) {
+              retryFuture.cancel(false);
+            }
             if (!wasCancelled && inFlightSubStreams.decrementAndGet() == Integer.MIN_VALUE) {
               assert savedCloseMasterListenerReason != null;
               listenerSerializeExecutor.execute(