diff --git a/pkg/features/kube_features.go b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
index e0d37c5bfb7..589874dc4ba 100644
--- a/pkg/features/kube_features.go
+++ b/pkg/features/kube_features.go
@@ -681,6 +681,7 @@ const (
 	// owner: @ahutsunshine
 	//
 	// Allows namespace indexer for namespace scope resources in apiserver cache to accelerate list operations.
+	// Superseded by BtreeWatchCache.
 	StorageNamespaceIndex featuregate.Feature = "StorageNamespaceIndex"
 
 	// owner: @nilekhc
diff --git a/pkg/features/versioned_kube_features.go b/pkg/features/versioned_kube_features.go
index 5f5236f9b94..fd69112de17 100644
--- a/pkg/features/versioned_kube_features.go
+++ b/pkg/features/versioned_kube_features.go
@@ -675,6 +675,7 @@ var defaultVersionedKubernetesFeatureGates = map[featuregate.Feature]featuregate
 
 	StorageNamespaceIndex: {
 		{Version: version.MustParse("1.30"), Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Beta},
+		{Version: version.MustParse("1.33"), Default: true, PreRelease: featuregate.Deprecated},
 	},
 
 	ServiceAccountNodeAudienceRestriction: {
diff --git a/pkg/registry/core/pod/strategy.go b/pkg/registry/core/pod/strategy.go
index fd239f6970e..bbbc8ef001e 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/core/pod/strategy.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/core/pod/strategy.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import (
 	utilnet "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/net"
 	utilvalidation "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation/field"
+	apiserverfeatures "k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/features"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/registry/generic"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage"
 	"k8s.io/apiserver/pkg/storage/names"
@@ -365,7 +366,7 @@ func GetAttrs(obj runtime.Object) (labels.Set, fields.Set, error) {
 // MatchPod returns a generic matcher for a given label and field selector.
 func MatchPod(label labels.Selector, field fields.Selector) storage.SelectionPredicate {
 	var indexFields = []string{"spec.nodeName"}
-	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.StorageNamespaceIndex) {
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.StorageNamespaceIndex) && !utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(apiserverfeatures.BtreeWatchCache) {
 		indexFields = append(indexFields, "metadata.namespace")
 	}
 	return storage.SelectionPredicate{
@@ -404,7 +405,7 @@ func Indexers() *cache.Indexers {
 	var indexers = cache.Indexers{
 		storage.FieldIndex("spec.nodeName"): NodeNameIndexFunc,
 	}
-	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.StorageNamespaceIndex) {
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(features.StorageNamespaceIndex) && !utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(apiserverfeatures.BtreeWatchCache) {
 		indexers[storage.FieldIndex("metadata.namespace")] = NamespaceIndexFunc
 	}
 	return &indexers
diff --git a/test/featuregates_linter/test_data/versioned_feature_list.yaml b/test/featuregates_linter/test_data/versioned_feature_list.yaml
index 6a3d8df9bf6..051377096b9 100644
--- a/test/featuregates_linter/test_data/versioned_feature_list.yaml
+++ b/test/featuregates_linter/test_data/versioned_feature_list.yaml
@@ -1286,6 +1286,10 @@
     lockToDefault: false
     preRelease: Beta
     version: "1.30"
+  - default: true
+    lockToDefault: false
+    preRelease: Deprecated
+    version: "1.33"
 - name: StorageVersionAPI
   versionedSpecs:
   - default: false