diff --git a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
index 96434f977c7..a8e17c6d943 100644
--- a/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
+++ b/hbase-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/RegionServerCallable.java
@@ -78,9 +78,6 @@ public abstract class RegionServerCallable<T, S> implements RetryingCallable<T>
       RpcController rpcController) {
     super();
     this.connection = connection;
-    if (tableName == null) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("Given tableName is null");
-    }
     this.tableName = tableName;
     this.row = row;
     this.rpcController = rpcController;
@@ -208,8 +205,8 @@ public abstract class RegionServerCallable<T, S> implements RetryingCallable<T>
 
   public void prepare(final boolean reload) throws IOException {
     // check table state if this is a retry
-    if (reload && !tableName.equals(TableName.META_TABLE_NAME) &&
-        getConnection().isTableDisabled(tableName)) {
+    if (reload && tableName != null && !tableName.equals(TableName.META_TABLE_NAME)
+        && getConnection().isTableDisabled(tableName)) {
       throw new TableNotEnabledException(tableName.getNameAsString() + " is disabled.");
     }
     try (RegionLocator regionLocator = connection.getRegionLocator(tableName)) {
diff --git a/hbase-endpoint/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java b/hbase-endpoint/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
index aac020db099..3fdd8cb8059 100644
--- a/hbase-endpoint/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
+++ b/hbase-endpoint/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestRpcControllerFactory.java
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public class TestRpcControllerFactory {
       super.setPriority(tn);
       // ignore counts for system tables - it could change and we really only want to check on what
       // the client should change
-      if (!tn.isSystemTable()) {
+      if (tn != null && !tn.isSystemTable()) {
         TABLE_PRIORITY.incrementAndGet();
       }