diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/types.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/types.go
index 0b2bcd6a3b6..b05fac39832 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/types.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/custom_metrics/types.go
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ package custom_metrics
 import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/pkg/api"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/types"
 )
 
 // a list of values for a given metric for some set of objects
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ type MetricValue struct {
 	metav1.TypeMeta `json:",inline"`
 
 	// a reference to the described object
-	DescribedObject api.ObjectReference `json:"describedObject"`
+	DescribedObject ObjectReference `json:"describedObject"`
 
 	// the name of the metric
 	MetricName string `json:"metricName"`
@@ -57,3 +57,21 @@ type MetricValue struct {
 // allObjects is a wildcard used to select metrics
 // for all objects matching the given label selector
 const AllObjects = "*"
+
+// NOTE: ObjectReference is copied from k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/types.go. We
+// cannot depend on k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api because that creates cyclic
+// dependency between k8s.io/metrics and k8s.io/kubernetes. We cannot depend on
+// k8s.io/client-go/pkg/api because the package is going to be deprecated soon.
+// There is no need to keep it an exact copy. Each repo can define its own
+// internal objects.
+
+// ObjectReference contains enough information to let you inspect or modify the referred object.
+type ObjectReference struct {
+	Kind            string
+	Namespace       string
+	Name            string
+	UID             types.UID
+	APIVersion      string
+	ResourceVersion string
+	FieldPath       string
+}
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/types.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/types.go
index 43dcb9f885c..47d64efdab8 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/types.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/metrics/pkg/apis/metrics/types.go
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ limitations under the License.
 package metrics
 
 import (
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/pkg/api"
 )
 
 // +genclient=true
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ type NodeMetrics struct {
 	Window    metav1.Duration
 
 	// The memory usage is the memory working set.
-	Usage api.ResourceList
+	Usage ResourceList
 }
 
 // NodeMetricsList is a list of NodeMetrics.
@@ -85,5 +85,19 @@ type ContainerMetrics struct {
 	// Container name corresponding to the one from pod.spec.containers.
 	Name string
 	// The memory usage is the memory working set.
-	Usage api.ResourceList
+	Usage ResourceList
 }
+
+// NOTE: ResourceName and ResourceList are copied from
+// k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/types.go. We cannot depend on
+// k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api because that creates cyclic dependency between
+// k8s.io/metrics and k8s.io/kubernetes. We cannot depend on
+// k8s.io/client-go/pkg/api because the package is going to be deprecated soon.
+// There is no need to keep them exact copies. Each repo can define its own
+// internal objects.
+
+// ResourceList is a set of (resource name, quantity) pairs.
+type ResourceList map[ResourceName]resource.Quantity
+
+// ResourceName is the name identifying various resources in a ResourceList.
+type ResourceName string