diff --git a/pkg/registry/core/pod/storage/eviction.go b/pkg/registry/core/pod/storage/eviction.go
index 386244451b0..ef793846f0b 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/core/pod/storage/eviction.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/core/pod/storage/eviction.go
@@ -206,15 +206,15 @@ func (r *EvictionREST) checkAndDecrement(namespace string, podName string, pdb p
 	}
 
 	pdb.Status.PodDisruptionsAllowed--
-	if pdb.Status.DisruptedPods == nil {
-		pdb.Status.DisruptedPods = make(map[string]metav1.Time)
-	}
-
 	// If this is a dry-run, we don't need to go any further than that.
 	if dryRun == true {
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	if pdb.Status.DisruptedPods == nil {
+		pdb.Status.DisruptedPods = make(map[string]metav1.Time)
+	}
+
 	// Eviction handler needs to inform the PDB controller that it is about to delete a pod
 	// so it should not consider it as available in calculations when updating PodDisruptions allowed.
 	// If the pod is not deleted within a reasonable time limit PDB controller will assume that it won't