diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index 2983cdd0e32..12d812cb38b 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ func NewMainKubelet(kubeCfg *kubeletconfiginternal.KubeletConfiguration,
 	}
 	klet.runtimeService = runtimeService
 
-	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RuntimeClass) {
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.RuntimeClass) && kubeDeps.KubeClient != nil {
 		klet.runtimeClassManager = runtimeclass.NewManager(kubeDeps.KubeClient)
 	}