diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/wal/WALPerformanceEvaluation.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/wal/WALPerformanceEvaluation.java
index 7d4a0f80318..28c68b3818f 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/wal/WALPerformanceEvaluation.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/wal/WALPerformanceEvaluation.java
@@ -307,7 +307,8 @@ public final class WALPerformanceEvaluation extends Configured implements Tool {
     LOG.info("FileSystem: " + fs);
 
     SpanReceiverHost receiverHost = trace ? SpanReceiverHost.getInstance(getConf()) : null;
-    TraceScope scope = Trace.startSpan("WALPerfEval", trace ? Sampler.ALWAYS : Sampler.NEVER);
+    final Sampler<?> sampler = trace ? Sampler.ALWAYS : Sampler.NEVER;
+    TraceScope scope = Trace.startSpan("WALPerfEval", sampler);
 
     try {
       if (rootRegionDir == null) {