diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
index 6827da212bf..110742be001 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/version/version.go
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ func NewCmdVersion(f cmdutil.Factory, ioStreams genericclioptions.IOStreams) *co
 // Complete completes all the required options
 func (o *Options) Complete(f cmdutil.Factory, cmd *cobra.Command) error {
 	var err error
+	if o.ClientOnly {
+		return nil
+	}
 	o.discoveryClient, err = f.ToDiscoveryClient()
 	// if we had an empty rest.Config, continue and just print out client information.
 	// if we had an error other than being unable to build a rest.Config, fail.